1923
by Koinu-chan
Summary: Set in American 1920s. Because of the latest fashion trend, Naruto gets mistaken for a girl a lot. His job as a waiter promises endless harassment and he is ready to maim all the men with salad forks, well, except for one...[SasuNaru, BL]
1. Act 1: Mr Greek God

**1923: ACT 1 - MR. GREEK GOD AND THE GREAT FALL! (revised)**

**Summary:** Set in the American 1920s. Because of the fashion trend, Naruto gets mistaken for a girl a lot. With his job as a waiter and the non-stop groping by the customers, he is ready to maim everyone with salad forks. But how is a dark-haired man going to change all of this? And does Naruto want the change… SasuNaru, Shounen-Ai

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto, the amazing Kishimoto-san does. I did, however, come up with the brilliant idea to set Naruto in the 1920's, so please don't steal the idea!

**Warning:** Groping, perverted men, dangerous eating utensils, and of course Shounen-ai…wait, apparently its Boys' Love now (the term SA is suppose to be outdated ). Still, they both mean boy-to-boy love. So…don't like, don't read.

I put in some slang words that I found on the internet for this time period. All terms will have definitions at the end. Sorry if it's confusing, I'm just trying to give the 1920's feel.

"" means speech  
'' means thoughts  
//.// means long periods of thoughts (more like Naruto talking to himself)  
­**-bold-** means author inserts (but they are not AN's; I swear)  
_italics_ means emphasized speech

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* * *

o0o

"Naruto! Could you grab that man another cup of water?"

"Right away!"

"Naruto! We need another set of utensils at Table 11!"

"Roger!"

"Naruto, there are some dirty dishes over at this table!"

"Gotcha…"

"Naruto!"… "Naruto!"… … … "Naruto!"

'Jeezus! What do they expect me to do? Make clones of myself?'

Heavily laden with trays on both hands and one balanced on his head, Naruto struggled to complete all the demanded tasks that were just made. As well as trying to sort through the ones in his head that was made a few minutes ago.

But then…he felt someone touch his rear end. Or to be more precise; _pinch_!

'Not again!' Naruto angrily screamed in his inner mind and cursed the latest fashion trend for the 24th time today.

His eye heavily twitching, the blond carefully balanced the trays he was carrying and turned his head slowly around. You could almost see flames in his eyes.

"Touch me again, and I'll shove a coffee mug up your ass!"

The brown-haired man grinned, "Well, aren't you a bearcat (1)." He gave what was supposed to be a seductive wink.

Naruto nearly gagged, his hand itching for that mug. But he resisted, that fag was lucky he was carrying so many trays at the moment. He didn't want to loose this job like the last one, when he worked at a bar…  
'Hey! That beer bottle just happened to be nearby when that rummy(2) was feeling me up! Hardly my fault' Naruto reasoned.

The blond took a few deep breaths to calm his anger, and then giving the man a glare, he walked away with the trays; congratulating himself for keeping his cool.

Naruto looked around the interior of diner; the walls were a combination of red and yellow wallpaper, while the floor had the classic black and white checkered pattern. It had a nice upbeat feel and the food was great (hence the endless costumers). He had been working at this diner for a month now, and had hoped that this job would involve less groping and touching than his previous job. After all, it _was_ a diner, and men would be sober and thus a better chance of controlling themselves, right?

Wrong.

Because a part of the servers' uniform was a…_frilly_…white…apron.  
'Damn you Jaraiya!_'_

Well, a job was a job, and this job had good pay. At least Naruto could use his imagination to give all those men a horrible death using salad forks and butter knives.

He dropped the trays off in the back where the cook was.

"Hey Chouji, is the chow for Table 7 ready?"

"Almost" the plump boy said, the reply sounded more like a grunt.

"Here are the orders for Table 12." The blond clipped up a piece of paper on the ever-growing line of orders.

Chouji groaned.

"Keep 'er going." Naruto playfully slapped him on the back and went off to clear some tables.

A group of girls walked in through the door, all wearing the latest fashion trend. All of them had their hair cut short; were wearing long, loose shirts to hide their bust and waistline, and shorts or straight skirts.  
'I just didn't understand the appeal of dressing like…like…boys! Girls look perfectly nice in corsets and frilly dresses.'

"Naruto, could you attend to those Janes(3), I'm a little busy." The pink haired waitress named Sakura called out. She was currently trying to juggle three trays full of food.

"Pos-i-tive-ly(4)." Naruto sighed and went up to greet the girls.

"Welcome to Jaraiya's Diner, table for five?"

"That's right, miss." One of the girls replied.

_//  
Miss?  
MISS?!?  
_Argghhh! Not only do men mistake me for a girl but now girls do too!  
If only they would stop wearing those futzing(5) boyish clothes, I won't be mistaken for a futzing girl anymore and be futzing groped all the futzing time!'  
_Futz!  
//_

Naruto made a metal note to give the creator of this fashion trend a painful death involving bread knives and giant blenders.

"Something wrong miss?" The brunette looked at Naruto worriedly. "Your face looks a tad red"

"It's mister…" Naruto ground out in a lethal voice.

The girl laughed, "You slay me(6)! A doll(7) like you?" She broke off laughing and the rest of the girls joined in. "I'm sure you just say that so the ol' boys(8) won't be hanging all over you. Don't worry, your lil' secret's safe with me!" She winked.

'Its not my fault I'm skinny and short!' Naruto screamed inside his head.

//  
Count to ten. Count to ten.  
1 2 3 4 –  
Ah, forget it!  
//

He imagined attacking the girls with sharp chopsticks. He felt a bit better.  
Just a bit.

Naruto managed a forced smile.  
"Right…well, come this way." He said, showing them to their table. After they were seated, he handed them the menus. The blond quickly walked away before they could ask him for anything.  
'I'll let Sakura or Ino attend to them.' Naruto thought.

By then the food for table 7 was ready, and Naruto went to retrieve it. He made his way to the table, carrying the trays of food for the three men.

"Here you are sirs." He said, as he placed each dish in front of them.

The man closest to him grinned, "Thanks, you're a doll."

"Ah shuddup." Naruto said tiredly.

The men laughed.

Naruto mentally stabbed them.

* * *

The bells jingled on the door, signaling a new customer coming in.

"Hot Dawg(9)! That's one handsome fella!" Ino exclaimed, she had stopped in her tracks to look at him and excitedly poked her elbow into Sakura's side.

"Ow! What'd u do that fo- " Then Sakura's gaze fell on the said man. Immediately you could almost see hearts floating in her eyes. She sighed breathlessly; "H-he must be an incarnated god…he's perrrfect…"

Naruto rolled his eyes and glanced over at the man at the door that they were being goofy(10) over. 'Hmm, I don't see what all the fuss is about.'

The fellow is in his late teens, but despite his young age he was wearing a suit, giving off a debonair look. His sleek black hair gracefully spiked back (_looks more like a rooster head to me_). His face is perfectly chiseled; a mixture of hardness and softness, a strong structure yet elegant features. His eyes are dark and mysterious, like two black pools of water (_What the futz?). _His body; a perfect imitation of a Greek god… (_ok, who's writing this description?_) …tall, lean, muscular yet has more grace than any woman, with hands like…  
**-Description is discontinued due to author trying to dodge flying forks-**

"I'll attend to him!" Sakura shouted, running towards the door.

"Oh no you don't! I will!" Ino rushed forward ahead of Sakura, not to be beaten.  
An imaginary trail of dust flew behind them as they raced to the door.

For a few seconds Naruto felt a tiny tinge of sympathy for the person-…er, correction: _prey_. Buuuut, he had work to do.

The blond hurriedly made his way up to the counter to where the cash register was. The attendant; Shikamaru is sitting lazily in a chair behind it. On the surface he looks a lazy bum, but he has an IQ of 200, he's also the restaurant's supervisor (_not to be messed with_).

Naruto handed him the receipt and cash, and using the least amount of effort possible, Skikmaru opened the register and gave the correct change. He turned his head to lazily look over at the two girls who were currently trying the push one another away from the table where Mr. Greek God sat. They looked liked two angry jungle cats wrestling over a piece of juicy meat.

The lazy genius sighed. "Naruto, go tell Sakura and Ino to attend to some other customers. They look like they are about to kill each other. You can be in charge of that fellow."

"Whoa, what! You want ME to tell THEM that? Coming between those two is worse than walking into a pack of hungry wolves!"

"Just tell them it's my orders, I'm sure they don't want to lose their jobs." Shikamaru propped his head up with his arm and closed his eyes, signaling that the conversation was over.

Naruto grumbled to himself and made his way to where Sakura and Ino were. It was like walking into an ominous black cloud, the intense waves of hate and rivalry rolling off them in waves; the two girls were having a duel to the death.  
_And you know what?!  
_Mr. Perfect-Body-and-Heavenly-Face was casually sitting there (looking like a model) and reading the menu as if it two girls having a death match was the most common thing on earth.  
_And the sad thing is! It probably IS a common occurrence in HIS world._

"Uh, Sakura? Ino?" Naruto meekly called out.

"WHAT!?!" They both snarled out and the same time and turned around to glare at Naruto, "WE'RE BUSY!!!"

If looks could kill, Naruto would be diced, boiled, fried in hot greasy oil and then ground into fine powder by now.

"U-um, Sh-Shikimaru told you two to go attend to other tables; I'm supposed to take over this one."

As soon as Naruto said this, he could feel their murderous intent reach up beyond the anger scale.  
_Oh Lord Jesus, please don't let me die, please don't let me die_

"It's Shikimaru's orders…" Naruto squeaked out helplessly.

The girls looked towards the cash register, to where the said supervisor was sitting. Then looked backed at Naruto, contemplating on the situation.

Finally, to Naruto's great relief, Ino slowly started walking away. She brushed past him and whispered, "at least find out his name for me."  
Then Sakura walked by on his other side, saying, "get me his address".

Naruto sighed, 'guess I have no choice.'

The blond turned towards the table and put on his best waiter smile, "Hi, my name is Naruto, I'll be your server today. Um…(thinking back to what Ino said)… may I ask you for your name…and, uh…address…you know, for future references?"  
'He's never gonna buy it…' Naruto laughed sheepishly and sweatdropped.

Mr. Sex-on-Legs looked up; his dark eyes gazed into Naruto's for a few seconds, and then slowly traveled downward, finally resting on the frilly apron. He looked up and again and gave a small smirk.

The blond's face turned red.

"I didn't know it was common courtesy for the wait_ers _here to ask costumers about personal information, but…" He leaned in towards Naruto. "if it's you, I think I can grant that request." His voice dropped down dangerously low.

"My name is…Sasuke Uchiha"  
"As for my address…usually people wait until the second meeting."

Sasuke looked at Naruto in the eyes and smirked.

'What's with that bastard!' Naruto leaned against the kitchen door, his face still flushed red. 'That arrogant smirk of his! I-I don't like it!'

He angrily stormed over to the java(11) brewer to get the said man's coffee.

Thinking back to the conversation:  
//  
Uchiha…huh?  
It can't be! There's no way _he_ would be the president of _Uchiha _Automobiles.  
Nope, no way…_not _with an attitude like that.  
//

Assuring himself, he finished pouring the java and placed it on a tray along with a pitcher of cream and a container of sugar.

Naruto braced himself as he got ready to head towards The Bastard again; though he would never admit it, he knew he blushed like a little schoolgirl when the raven was staring at him like that.

'It's not gonna happen again!' Naruto promised himself.

The blond walked confidently towards the table…

**Now…here's where a series of slow motion events started to proceed.**

No one is quite sure what caused the trip,  
Naruto for one says that he must have hit the corner of a table.  
Sasuke claims he was "falling for him"  
While the two jealous waitresses accuses Naruto for doing it on purpose.

**Anyways, proceeding on with the story…**

Naruto felt himself plunging forward, in slow motion; the tray flew out of his hands and its contents catapulted upwards, heading strait for Sasuke's head.

Naruto braced himself with his hands and landed on his knees and looked up just in time to see the coffee, the cream and finally the sugar all come splashing down on the raven's head. There were now brown and white blobs in his hair and…gulp…on his expensive looking suit, the blond winced.

**Yet, how he still managed to look cool and composed like that will always be a mystery.**

"Ah! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Naruto rushed forward to clean it up. But in his haste, he slipped on some spilt cream and landed on Sasuke's lap.

"S-s-sorry!" Naruto stuttered, his face flaming again.

Sasuke grinned, "I don't mind at all."

He quickly jumped up and turned slightly sideways to hide his blush. Then he suddenly remembered the mess he still had to clean up. He bent down to quickly gather up the bigger shards of the mug and pitcher.

"NARUTO! What did you DO?" The two girls suddenly shouted from behind him.

The blond was currently too busy praying he wouldn't get fired to mind them.

"Oh my, are you alright sir?" Sakura asked coffee-drenched man.

"I'm fine…" Sasuke loosened his tie and took off the outer jacket. "But the suit…I don't think the stains will come out."

"Oh don't worry about it!" Ino cut in. "Naruto here, will definitely pay for it!"

"Eh? I will?" Naruto looked up.

"WON'T you…" Sakura and Ino said in such a way that left no room for objections.

Naruto blanched, "O-of course I will." Then laughed meekly, "I mean, how much could it possibly cost? I'm sure it'll be no problem."

"$275." Sasuke said nonchalantly.

"WHAT?!?!" Naruto shouted.

"Two hundred and seventy five dollars." Sasuke repeated slowly.

'You have GOT to be kidding me.' Naruto felt faint, very faint indeed.

* * *

**-End of Act 1- **

Note: During this era, the average annual earnings were about $1200. So for Naruto (who wouldn't earn nearly as much), $275 was equal to about 3 months pay.

(1) Bearcat - a hot-blooded or fiery girl  
(2) Rummy - a drunken bum  
(3) Jane – any female  
(4) Pos-i-tive-ly – affirmative  
(5) Futz/Futzing - "fuck/fucking" not sure if this the correct way to use it, but I don't care. Don't u just love that word:P  
(6) You slay me – that's funny  
(7) Doll – attractive girl  
(8) Ol' boy – a male  
(10) Hot Dawg – Wow/great  
(11) Goofy – in love  
(12) Java – another word for coffee

A/N: I am an extremely lazy person, so if I have no motivation, I will not write! So give me reviews, motivate me! It'll make me work that much faster and it make me that much happier. :)

This puppy begs for your reviews!

On the next note: My set deadline for Act 2 is Febuary 6th, 2007. Though if I'm more motivated, I'll write faster, kukuku.

Much love, Koinu-chan (Puppy-chan)


	2. Act 2: The Enormous Mansion

**1923: Act 2 – THE ENORMOUS MANSION AND THE OFFER!**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto! This puppy will admit that if she did, she would put Naruto in a maid's outfit.

**Warning:** Dangerous threats with writing equipment, crazy butler, mysterious sparkles, and of course Boys' Love!

Thank you to everyone who review, you made me very happy!

All 1920s slang terms will have definitions at the end

"" means speech  
'' means thoughts  
//.// means long periods of thoughts  
­**-bold-** means author inserts  
_italics_ means emphasized speech

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* * *

o0o

Naruto stood in front of an enormous mansion. It was a pretty Victorian styled building that had looked like it had at least 3 floors. Vines covered the sides of the elegant structure; the garden in front contained a fancy sculptured fountain. Patches of various flowers, shrubs and trees finished off the luxurious look.

Naruto felt for sure his lower jaw had reached the ground by now.  
'How rich is this fellow?!'

He glanced at the business card in his hand again to make sure he had the right place. It read #7 Fairview Dr. The blond looked up to see a brass number 7 hanging on the wooden double doors. 'I think this is it.'

Thinking back to yesterday; after Naruto had almost fainted from the shock, Mr.I'm-Still-Sexy-Even-Though-I'm-Covered-In-Coffee had given him a business card and told him to come to his house to discuss reimbursement for the suit. The blond almost fainted _again_ when the card confirmed that he was _indeed_ the young president of the famous Uchiha Automobiles Company.

Naruto sighed and then took a deep breath before walking up the cobblestone pathway and stopping in front of the huge double doors. He hesitated a bit and then reached up to knock loudly on the wooden frame.  
Almost immediately the door opened, revealing a finely dressed butler. He had grey, almost silver hair, which was brushed back. He was wearing a fine black tailored tuxedo; the only thing that stood out about him was the mask he wore over the bottom portion of his face and the shaded monocle over his left eye. Upon seeing Naruto, he quickly hid something behind his back, but not before the blond saw a flash of orange; was it a book?

"Well, well. What have we here? How may I be of service to a pretty girl like you?" Although the mask covered most of his face, Naruto could tell that he was grinning.  
'I can't take this anymore!'

"I am NOT a girl! You hear me? I AM NOT A GIRL!" Naruto yelled,

The butler ignored him and bent down, "My, my…you have a fine pair of legs." He peered at the blond's thighs with his thumb and forefinger under his chin. With his other hand he reached out and began rubbing one of them.

Naruto jumped back and cursed his decision to wear shorts today. "S-STAY AWAY FROM ME! YOU HOMO! PERVERT!" the blond continued to scream bloody murder at the top of his lungs.

The silver haired man laughed, "Alright, alright. Calm down, I was just toying with you. I know who you are, please come in. Master Uchiha is expecting you." The silver haired man stepped off to the side to let Naruto through.

The blond glared suspiciously at him.

The man grinned again, "I won't do anything, man's word."

Once inside, he looked up to see a grand marble stairway leading up to a carpeted second floor. There was a sparkling crystal chandelier hanging over the staircase and two intrically carved columns on either side of it. 'Isn't this swell? Now we just need a ballroom.'

"Follow me please." The masked butler gestured towards the right of staircase, which seemed to be a long hallway. He started to walk towards it and Naruto followed suit. The man stopped in front of a large door, opened it and ushered him inside.

"Master Sasuke will be with you shortly, wait here, alright? Don't you two have too much fun now, you hear!" He gave a two-finger salute and then promptly closed the door.

Naruto puffed his cheeks and suppressed the urge to slam that man between the double doors. When he finally calmed down, he turned around to look at the room, which appeared to be a study. There were high bookcases covering the walls, all filled with books and various documents. Near the center, there was a large mahogany desk which had stacks of papers and expensive looking fountain pens on it. Throughout the room, there were various sculptures and vases. The blond slowly walked around, looking at all the interesting sculptures on display.

He was examining a strange looking monkey mask when suddenly, a sultry voice behind him spoke into his ear, "that mask was supposedly worn by ancient Japanese ninjas."

"GAH!" Naruto jumped up, nearly causing the mask to fall. "Jeepers creepers(1)! You scared the bejeezus out of me! I didn't even hear you come in!"

"Special talent, who knows, I could be a descendent of a ninja." Sasuke walked to the desk and sat down in the leather chair.

"Hooey(2)!" Naruto huffed and righted the mask its stand, "and anyways, do you normally keep your guests waiting that long?"

The raven haired man smirked, "I seem to recall that it was _you_ who needed repay me for a certain something that was ruined."

Naruto scratched his head and laughed sheepishly, "About that…"

"I am assuming you can't pay for it?" He smirked. "I admit the suit is a _tad_ pricey."

"A TAD?" Naruto yelled "Who in their right minds would spend 275 rubes(3) on a get-up(4)? AND wear it to a diner?"

"Unlike some people, I like to be dressed for every occasion." Sasuke replied, smirk still pasted on his face. "Plus money isn't an issue when one has a gold mine(5)."

The blond stomped his feet, "Damn rich bastard! I hate you, I HATE YOU!"

"You know, we can easily take this case to the police. I think I'm being rather nice here."

//  
The blond clenched his hands,I'm…gonna…kill…this fella(6)!  
I bet he wouldn't be smirking like that if all those fountain pens were sticking outta his head!  
Alright Naruto…  
calm down,  
calm,  
calm,  
I am calm.  
If something goes wrong now, I'll be saying adios to my job…or worse my future, my _life_!  
//

_Knock, knock  
_"Master Uchiha, tea is served." A girl's voice called out from the other side of the door.

"Come in." the said man replied.

An asian girl walked in, she had two buns on either side of her head and was wearing a navy blue maid's outfit. She carried a tray laden with tea and various snacks. She walked up and laid the tray on the desk, then went over to Sasuke and whispered something in his ear.

Naruto could only catch a few words, "Preparations…ready, …storeowner…gave consent…"

Sasuke grinned and nodded his head, "Good work TenTen, you may go."  
The said girl curtseyed and took her leave, closing the door behind her.

The young president gestured towards a free chair in front of his desk. "Have a seat, make yourself at home."

Naruto warily sat down in front of him. Sasuke righted a teacup and poured him some tea. "Help yourself," he smiled sweetly.

'Is just me, or did his attitude just change?' The blond narrowed his eyes. 'I swear that smile is not right, and when did all those sparkles appear beside him?' Despite himself, he took a yummy looking biscuit anyways. The tea smelled good too.

The raven's smile grew larger. "You don't have money to repay me right?"

"Yeah, unlike you, I don't have large amounts of pocket change."

"Would you be willing to work for the reimbursement?"

"Not like I can do anything else, though it might take me a while."

Sasuke smile turned back into a smirk. "Alright, it's decided." He picked up a pen and began writing on one of the papers on his desk. "You will work for me for a total of 3 months and 2 weeks. During this time you will become my personal servant."

"What?"

The president continued, "you will cook, clean, run errands, tend the garden and carry out any of my personal requests. 80 percent of your payment will go towards reimbursement for the suit, while the other 20 percent will be for your personal expenses. You will be staying in one of the rooms of this mansion. I have already talked to your landlord, your apartment will be held until the time is up. You may return afterwards."

"WHAT?"

"The storeowner; Jaraiya, has kindly agreed to let you continue your previous job at the diner after the 3 and a half months. You will move in 3 days from now, all necessary arrangements have been made." Sasuke finished writing and pushed the piece of paper towards the blond, "now sign here."

"WHAT!!!" Naruto stood up and slammed both hands on the desk. "You can't…when did you…you didn't even ask…I'M NOT GONNA WORK FOR A BASTARD LIKE YOU!"

Sasuke calmly looked up and gazed into the cerulean blue eyes, his smirk growing wider. The raven remained like that, just looking at the blond with that intense gaze of his. Naruto felt like his legs were being drained of its blood and a few moments later, he let himself collapse onto the chair. Sasuke slowly drew up his hands and clasped them together, then leaned across the desk so he was an inch from Naruto's face.

"You won't huh? Well…" He lowered his eyes and dropped his voice, "you _could_ pay me back with your body."

The blond's face flushed red, "B-but I'm male!" He sputtered.

"I am perfectly aware of that." Sasuke leaned even closer.

Naruto's eyes went impossibly big and his face rivaled that of a tomato's. He sputtered and babbled incoherent words.  
Sasuke suddenly leaned back, chuckling. "You sure are a goof(7). I'm joking, I won't ask for that _yet_. So how about it, will you accept the job?"

The blond crossed his arms, turned his head sideways and pouted, "It's not like I have a choice. When do I start again?" Though secretly in his head, he was adding a mental note to murder the arrogant man with a thousand sporks in his sleep.

* * *

The dark haired man drew aside the curtains to look at the blond walking down the pathway, he appeared to be still grumbling under his breath.

"Why do you keep insisting that he must work for you, Master Uchiha? It's not like you to make such a big deal out of few hundred dollars."

A few moments of silence passed.

"He captured my attention." The said man finally spoke out. "He will be the next _one_." The raven turned towards Kakashi and let the curtains fall back into place, an indecipherable glint shone in those pitch black orbs, but was quickly gone and replace by the characteristic flat shade. "That is all Kakashi, go back to work." The young master walked away.

Kakashi sighed into the darkening room, 'the next one, huh?'

He gazed towards the curtained window.  
'Maybe…this time it will be different…'

* * *

**-End Act 2-**

(1) Jeepers creepers – similar to the saying: Jesus Christ!  
(2) Hooey! – Bullshit!  
(3) Rubes – dollar  
(4) Get-up – outfit  
(5) Gold mine – lots of money, a fortune  
(6) Fellow/Fella – slang for 'man', same as saying 'guy' nowadays  
(7) Goof – stupid person/idiot

My next chappie will hopefully be up before Feb. 11. But reviews DO encourage me!

Much love, Koinu-chan (Puppy)


	3. Act 3: Cat Fight and Shiny Teeth

**1923: ACT 3 - CAT FIGHTS AND GREAT SHINY TEETH!**

**Disclaimer:** Mou, I don't own Naruto, but maybe one day! When I get enough pocket change :3

**Warning:** Major OOC (but I think you've all noticed that by now :P), intense rivalry and very bright teeth.

Minna, sorry this is kinda late! You see…I went to a sleepover…then went to a party the next day…and yeah…  
Gomenasai!

"" means speech  
'' means thoughts  
//.// means long periods of thoughts  
­**-bold-** means author inserts  
_italics_ means emphasized speech

o0o

* * *

o0o

"YOU ARE WORKING WHERE!?" The two waitresses yelled at the same time, making everyone's head turn towards them in the diner.  
They both looked at each other, a little miffed at their synchronicity. But immediately turned towards Naruto again, demanding an answer.

"It'll only be for a little while." The blond waved his hands in front of him. "I'll be coming back after 3 and a half months."  
'Besides…' Naruto added in his mind. '_who_ were the people that demanded I give compensation for the suit. Geez…'

Ino and Sakura stood contemplating this, then suddenly glanced at each other and grinned.

Sakura pushed Naruto down into a chair and Ino started massaging his back. The pink haired girl even grabbed a stool and propped his legs up.

"Naruto, Naruto, have I ever told you how _manly_ you are?" Ino said in a sugary sweet voice.

"Oh yes, not to mention _dashing_ and _handsome_?" Sakura added, coating her words with honey. "The perfect Joe Brooks(1)."

Naruto blinked.

"Such a man as you should not go work at such a wonder- I mean _awful_ place like that!" The pink haired waitress continued.

"Yes, yes. You should leave that kind of work to me!" Ino cut in.

"No…_I _would gladly go in your place. I'll take care of the payment for the suit; you can just rest for 3 months!" Sakura glared at Ino and then smiled sweetly at Naruto.

The blonde girl harrumphed. "Anyone would agree that _I _would be a much better choice."

Sakura grabbed the blond's hands. "Naruto! You gotta choose me! This is my chance…" The pink haired girl lifted her head towards an imaginary ray of light. "My chance for a fairy tale romance!" Sparkles and stars suddenly appeared around her.

"Baloney(2)! What makes you think Mr.Uchiha would like _you_? He'll fall head over heels for _me_ in one glance!" Ino clasped her hands together and went into her own dream world.

The two girls turned towards each other and threw daggers with their eyes as electricity sparked between them.

A while later…Naruto quietly crawled away from the 'fight cloud of arms and legs'. He got up and sighed, it was his last day working here at the diner and it was already off to a bad start.  
The blond went off to another side of the diner (away from the girls) and began taking orders. He stopped in front of Table 4 where a man wearing a brown suit was sitting.

"My name is Naruto; I'll be serving you today. What can get for you?"

"I think I just lost my appetite for _food_," The man grinned. "I'd to have _you_ instead."

Naruto rolled his eyes but chose to ignored him, "A cup of noodle juice(3)? Coming right up." He walked away before he could protest.  
The blond went around, taking orders from everyone, getting an occasional remark now and then.

Suddenly, he felt the familiar sensation of someone groping his bottom.

Uttering a string of colourful curses in his mind, Naruto now began to think that maybe working at the Uchiha mansion wouldn't be so bad after all…

* * *

The blond boy crossed the street, his pocket carrying the last paycheck from his job at the diner. Naruto turned around to look one more time at the brightly lit restaurant. 'Well, I sure won't miss all those perverted men! At least at the Uchiha mansion, I've only got 2 perverts to deals with.'

He walked passed a row of shops; a bakery, a toy store, the place that sells ugly overpriced shoes…

"READ ALL ABOUT IT! READ ALL ABOUT IT! Orochimaru escaped prison!"

Naruto froze as he recognized the blaring voice of the very much _over_enthusiastic paperboy somewhere close by.  
'Eh-he, well, maybe I'll just take another route home today.' The blond said to himself as he quickly deterred into an alleyway.

"GET YER KONOHAVILLE WEEKLY!"

Naruto broke into a light jog, 'I'm not running away, course not! I'm just…exercising a bit.' But, just to be sure, he glanced behind him to check for any green-clad boys.  
Now this is where Naruto made his mistake, with his head turned, he could not see the bright green warning symbol ahead of him.

_SMACK!_

He had bumped right into Rock Lee himself.  
The paperboy righted his cap and looked down at the fallen figure.

"NARUTO ol' chap! I haven't seen you in AGES!" Lee broke into the hugest grin possible.

The blond raised his arm up to shield against the bright shine. 'Jeezus! What does he use on those teeth! That outta be labeled 'a danger to society'!'

"Oh don't be SITTING down now, you MUSN'T get lazy!" Lee latched on to his arm and dragged Naruto up and dusted him off.

"Naruto! Have you been well!?!" He squeezed him into a hug.  
"Are you doing enough EXERCISE? Exercise is IMPORTANT!!! We must maintain our YOUTHFUL VIGOR!"

'Can I die yet?' Naruto fought for air.

Lee suddenly let out a gasp. "You look THINNER mate!" The boy pushed and prodded his ribs. "I do believe you LOST weight! BLIMEY, We MUST get you to a doc'!"

"You haven't eaten ENOUGH! Just look at you, thin as a twig!" Lee began shook the poor boy. "How can we FIX THIS, don't worry ol' chap! Lee here will make you BETTER!"  
"AYE, I KNOW! Lee will treat you a WHOLE chicken! You MUST eat a WHOLE CHICKEN! No no no, that's not enough…A WHOLE PIG! Or even a WHOLE COW! What do you think mate? I bet you're STARVING! I will put some MEAT onto your bones YET! I won't let my dear friend STARVE! Your YOUTH now rests one LEE'S hands! Boy oh boy, can I bear the pressure? What if I can't do it? What if I FAIL this task?" Lee broke off, muttering to himself.

Naruto started backing away, taking small steps and watching for the next outburst.

Lee's voice rose up again. "I MUST BELIEVE IN MY OWN ABILITIES, I WILL NOT FAIL! I CAN ACHIEVE ANY GOAL BECAUSE I AM AT THE HEIGHT OF YOUTH!"  
"COME NARUTO! LET US EAT 10 COWS AND RUN 500 LAPS AROUND KONOHAVILLE!" He made a move to grab Naruto.

The blond sprang back, "Uh…I just remembered Lee, I have some very _very_ important matter to attend to. Extremely urgent." He backed away. "How about I take a rain check for that?

"RHATZ(4)! Got to mooch(5) already?

"Pos-i-tive-ly(6). Sorry…uh…_mate_. I'll make sure to stock up on food at home and we can run together next time." Naruto made a mental note to himself to that he would avoid him like the plague.  
'Bumping into Lee absolute death'

"A'righty mate! I'll hold you to your word! Aye, before ya leave, why not buy a Konohaville Weekly?! MAJOR news ol' chap, that serial killer fellow ESCAPED from a pinch(7)! Ya know, GOT to keep up with the times now!"

Left with no choice unless he wanted his ears talked off, he unwillingly bought one of those useless rolled up pieces of paper. 'I hate reading, never liked English class.'

Lee shouted his goodbyes as Naruto walked (well…more like ran) off. He flashed another one of his famous smiles, almost blinding a few people walking by.

* * *

In front of a red-bricked apartment complex, a middle aged man wearing a straw hat was busy watering his potted plants. He was humming along to a tune from the radio that could be heard coming from his open window. He stopped for second to take off his hat and wipe off the beads of sweat on his forehead. The brown haired man glanced along the street and noticed a certain blond coming his way.

"Naruto! You're back!"

"Hiya Iruka! Yup, I just finished my work. I'm going up to pack now; since I need to be over there tomorrow morning and all." He broke off, grumbling under his breath.

The elderly brunette looked worriedly at him; he had gotten the news 2 days ago when he received a phone call from a representative of the Uchiha Automobiles. Not quite believing what the girl on the other end was telling him at first, it took nearly her 20 minutes to calm him down and explain the situation to him. Iruka still could not believe Naruto's stroke of bad luck. Three and a half months working for a stranger! He was going to be worried sick.

"N-Naruto, are you sure you're going to be alright there? I mean you can just call it off, I'm sure you'd be able to come up with the money another way."

The blond looked up to see the evident worry etched into Iruka's face. His landlord (and also former teacher back in school) always had a soft spot for Naruto. Mainly because he had no parents and the kids liked to tease him for his girlish looks. Naruto deeply appreciated the kindness and care, he thought of him as the only family figure he has.

"Heh, don't worry Iruka." The blond assured him with a smile. "It's only for 3 and a half months, nothing bad'll happen. I'll pay back the debt and be back before you know it!"

Iruka exhaled slowly and smiled back. "Alright, keep to your word then."

"Honour bright!(8)"

"And if _anything_ happens to you or _anything_ goes wrong, you let me know." Iruka's pleasant face went somber and a dark cloud loomed over him. "I'll make sure Mr.Uchiha will wish he'd never heard of the name Umino."

* * *

Somewhere on the other side the town, a certain dark haired man sneezed.

**-End Act 3-**

* * *

(1) Joe Brooks – perfectly dressed man  
(2) Baloney! – Nonsense!  
(3) noodle juice – tea  
(4) Rhatz! – How disappointing!  
(5) mooch – to leave  
(6) Pos-i-tive-ly – affimitive  
(7) pinch – arrest/ an arreset  
(8) Honour bright – promise/ I promise (an older term, used more in 1900s)

Yes, I know its short…. ahhhh! Sorry guys, made you wait so long for such a short chappie. I will try to make the next one much longer!  
However, to make up for it; I did draw some fanart for this fic. Check it out! (Don't forget to take out the spaces and brackets)

Naruto: http// www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48522795 /  
Sasuke: http// www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48523222 /  
Kakashi: http// www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48523423 /

My next set deadline is Fri, Feb. 16. 2007

Please look forward to it!  
Much love,  
Koinu


	4. Act 4: The Maids Dress

**1923: ACT 4 – THE MAID'S DRESS AND THE NOT-SO-GREAT BATHROOMS!**

**Disclaimer:** I will work hard in school. Then I'll become rich and famous. Then I'll buy Naruto! It's all part of my awesome plan, mu-huhu.

**Warning:** Frilly maid's dress, dirty bathrooms and an angry blond.

**A/N:** Wow! Thank you for the reviews everyone, 'tis a bit overwhelming! I was planning to reply to everyone, but now it looks like I won't be able to keep up.  
Gomenasai, but it looks like I won't be replying much anymore. If you would like a reply, please indicate so on your review. Otherwise, I'll only reply if there's a question being asked. Sorry everyone –bows-.

Er…yea. My chapter is not particularly long as I said it would be, eh-he. Forgive me! Recently I've been pretty busy with schoolwork, plus I'm finding it harder to just sit down and type. Don't worry though, I'll see this through till the end.  
Please continue to leave me reviews, they really do help motivate me. It's about the only thing that's keeping me going.

On with the show!

o0o

* * *

o0o

'You have GOT to be kidding me…' Naruto held up the dark blue frilly thing.

**-Now let's rewind a little bit and see how Naruto got into this little predicament-**

So it was this morning, you see. A lovely morning at that, the sun was out, birds singing, cats yowling over at Mrs. Norris' house.  
Naruto got up,  
freshened himself,  
ate breakfast  
and gathered up his stuff.  
Then a carriage came in front of Naruto's apartment to pick him and his luggage up.  
It was all fine and dandy, though the driver had to slightly drag him out (as he kept saying goodbye to all the parts of his apartment).  
The ride was uneventful.  
They arrived.  
He unpacked.  
Kakashi greeted him.  
He copped a grope. Naruto retaliated with a slap.  
It was going well indeed.  
Naruto could handle this, no problem. The 3 and half months will be up in no time.

Now…the blond wished he hadn't spoken so soon as he looked at the blue frilly maid's dress. He should have known something was up.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, I HAVE TO _WEAR_ THIS?" yelled a blushing Naruto.

"We have no men's uniform that are your size, this is the only thing that will possibly fit you." Replied a smirking Sasuke. "You'll have to wear that until I order a men's uniform with your measurements."

"B-But! Why can't I just wear normal clothes?"

"Because you're working for me; Sasuke Uchiha, one of the most influential and richest man in the country and I can't have my employees looking like a slob."

"Why you, you…GAAAHH! Come on! I wouldn't even mind wearing an oversized men's uniform! Just _anything_ but a dress!"

"Anything…you say?" Sasuke looked him up and down slowly as to seemingly dress the blond in something much…'worse' in his mind.

Realization dawned on Naruto face. "NO! I take that back. Okay, I'll wear the stupid dress." He grumbled. "But that uniform better get here soon."

Satisfaction showed on Sasuke's face. "Good, now go get changed."

"Now?"

"Yes, now. It's your first working day after all."

Grumbling under his breath, the blond hung the dress on a nearby chair and grabbed the hem of his shirt to pull over his head.

"Uzumaki…what are you doing?"

"Changing." Naruto looked at him with innocent blue eyes.

Now this was unexpected. Not that Sasuke was complaining…he looked over and took in the slender toned back that looked surprisingly soft. Disappointingly, the blond kept his underwear on.

Sasuke shook his head. 'No. I can't come onto him yet.' The dark haired man reminded himself. 'I have to wait until he willingly gives himself to me, then the end result will be much more satisfying.'

By this time, Naruto had already managed to get the puffy white pants on and was currently pulling the blue dress over his head. It slid down and the blond smoothed out the fabric.  
Sasuke noticed the bodice was left unlaced in the back, well, he'll have to fix that. He went over, gathered the strings and started pulling them together.

"H-hey! What are you doing?" Naruto felt the tugs and wheezed. "I can't breath, you bastard!"

"Hn." He smirked.

Sasuke finished tying together the strings, then tied the maid's cap on his head and stood back to inspect his handy work.  
Naruto clenched his hands, blushing under his intense gaze.

'C-cute…' Sasuke shook his head. 'No, no…I mean, he just looks better in a dress than anybody else before…even the girls…what am I thinking…I mean, this will make it easier to the play game, yea, that's right…but he still looks so cute…no! Stop it!'

"Something wrong?" Naruto tilted his head and looked at Sasuke who seemed to be having an internal battle.

Sasuke snapped out of his daze and straightened up, he immediately took on his usual demeanor and tone of voice. "Nothing. I was just thinking how you look much better in a dress than in those rube-like(1) clothes you always wear." He gave another one of his trademark smirks.

"Why you...bastard!"

The dark haired man walked up to Naruto. "Tsk. Tsk. Looks like I'll have to train you better." He leaned in to whisper into the blond's ear.  
"In this household, you call me…master."

* * *

"Master my butt. Who does he think he is." Naruto grumbled under his breath.

Kakashi smacked the blond's head with his book.

"Pay attention now Naruto, I don't want to do this twice." Though he immediately put his nose back into the book.

"Not only do I find out that I'm working for a dominating bastard, but also that the butler is a porn novel fan. Just _what_ have I gotten myself into?" Naruto muttered dejectedly.

"Did you say something?" Kakashi looked up from his orange book.

"Nothing a' all." The blond sighed.

"Good." The silver haired butler walked down the hallway and pointed into a room. "This is the 2nd living room. Mostly it's not used, but Master Sasuke likes to rest here sometimes. Make sure you clean and dust it at least once a week." He didn't even look up from his book.

"Next we have the dining room, this is where only Master Sasuke eats (when he is not in his meetings). He specifically requested you to join him for his dinners; however, you are to serve him as well."

Naruto just crossed his arms and pouted.

Kakashi turned around to look at the blond, he smiled, the visible eye turning into a crescent.

"What?" Naruto inquired.

"Just thinking how cute you look in that dress. Though…you probably look just as good with it off."

"K-KAKASHI!"

"Just kidding. Just kidding. Don't get in a lather(2)." The silver haired man waved his hand and went back to his book. "This is the kitchen…" he pointed to a closed door. "Our chef is French, so you might want to brush up on your francais."

"Down here is the dinner hall, dinner meetings for the company are held every month. You'll help set up and clean after each meeting."

Kakashi went down the hallway, commenting on each room: The 1st living room, the music room, the lounge, the recreation room, and yes…there was a ballroom. They continued like that for the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor. Naruto met some of the other maids and work-hands along the way, they paused to introduce and greet one another. Though, Naruto always felt like they whispered behind his back when he turned to leave.

The pair then went to the backyard where the silver haired butler introduced the pool, the stable, the horse track, tennis court and not to mention the prize winning gardens.

"The bastard sure is an egg (3)." Naruto

Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Well! That's it for our tour, let's get you to work. Hmm…how about you start by cleaning all the bathrooms?" The man grinned behind his mask, his monocle glinting.

Correction; a pervert _and_ a sadist

* * *

Naruto stretched and massaged his tired arm muscles. He had been working for the _whole_ day cleaning those futzing bathrooms, Kakashi seemed to have forgotten the little fact that there was 7 of them. Not to mention, _master_ Sasuke seemed to tease and flirt with him every time they bumped into each other, which surprisingly was a lot. 'Damn sadistic butler, stupid smirking bastard' He grumbled and walked towards his room, ready to conk out on the bed.

So caught up in his fatigue, he rounded the corner and bumped right into someone.

**-Naruto seemed to have a bad habit of doing that lately-**

"For crying out loud(4)! Watch where you're going!" the man he bumped into shouted.

Naruto winced as landed on the floor. 'Great, now my ass is gonna be sore too.'  
He looked up to see the person he bumped into, the fella looked to be the same age as him. He had shaggy hair, shaggy clothes, even a shaggy…slouch? Jeezus, he just plain reminded Naruto of a dog. There was another fellow behind him, he wore some sort of shaded spectacles and his shirt collar was way oversized.

The said man looked down. "Hey, aren't you that new kid the Uchiha is pla-"  
He was cut off by Spectacles Man who had clamped a hand over his mouth.

Naruto got up and rubbed his behind. "Sorry for bumping into you like that. Mr…"

"I'm Kiba!" The Dog Man had managed to pry Spectacle Man's hand off his mouth. "This wet blanket(5) here is Shino." He pointed to the man behind him, who was still silent.

"Nice to meet ya all, I'm Naruto. Do you fellas work here?"

"Nah, not really. We work over at the Uchiha's factory, but we sleep here during the night." Kiba grinned. "I've heard about you from the other workers Naruto, you're the one who soiled the Uchiha's favourite suit, eh?"

"Well…it was really an accident…" Naruto scratched his head embarrassingly.

"Ha! Would of liked to have seen that though! The Uchiha covered in coffee… Hahaha, that slays me!(6)" Kiba slapped his knees.  
"But seriously…" He stopped laughing and peered closely at Naruto. "I heard 'em talking about how much you look like a gal, but this is too much."

Naruto's eyes disappeared into his bangs and his face darkened.

Kiba continued. "I ain't never seen no other boy got a figure like yours…"

Naruto clenched his hands and a dark aura surrounded him

"Why, you look better in a dress than all the other gals in this place."

Naruto's whole body trembled, sparks started flying out from him.

"Hell, just stick on some bubs(7) and you'd be the real McCoy (8)."

Shino tried to warn Kiba, he really did. But the poor fella just kept on talking, oblivious to darkening killing aura in front of him.  
With a mighty scream, Naruto unleashed a powerful punch right into the man's face. To this day, we can still see the dent in the wall where Kiba slammed into.

Huffing, Naruto walked past Shino, heading towards his room for some much needed sleep.

Shino's shoulders vibrated, and laughed softly. "That was the bee's knees(9)."

**-End Act 4-**

* * *

(1) Rube – unsophisticated, country bumpkin  
(2) Don't get in a lather – Don't get so worked up  
(3) Egg – a person who lives the big life. Bet I got ya fooled there XD, it doesn't literally mean an egg, hahaha.  
(4) For crying out loud! – we still use this phrase nowadays right? So self-explanatory?  
(5) Wet blanket – a solemn/serious person, sorta like 'party-pooper'  
(6) That slays me – that's funny  
(7) Bubs - breasts  
(8) Real McCoy – genuine item  
(9) Bee's Knees – awesome, terrific. XD I just HAD to make Shino say this, that phrase is sooo him. You know…the bug thing and all :P

Notice the lack (or very little) of slangs words in Sasuke's speech. I kinda figured that Sasuke wouldn't be the type of person to say twenties slang as he is 'sophisticated', hehe. The same with Kakashi, but more so because he is older and doesn't bother to keep up with the times.

**A/N:** Alright everyone, I think I have all the chapters planned out. It'll probably be around 10 chapters or so, give or take.  
From now onwards, the tone will probably get a little more serious. I'll be introducing some drama, hope that's ok with everyone.  
I also have a little poll I want to do…Would you guys like a lemon or no lemon? Now, mind you, I am not experienced at writing lemons, so it'll probably be not too descriptive. I'm also going to have a hard time fitting it into the story, so I might just do it separately if you guys want it.  
Please let me know, thanks.

I have more fanart! Check them out (remember to take out all spaces and brackets):

Sakura: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48941289 /  
Ino: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48942210 /  
Lee: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48943370 /  
Iruka: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48943562 /  
Naruto in Maid's Dress: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48945592 /

Next update: Fri. February 23, 2007


	5. Act 5: The Dinner Meeting

**1923: ACT 5 – A DINNER MEETING AND A CREEPY REDHEAD! (revised)**

**Disclaimer:** I have this suspicion, you see. I think Kishimoto made Sasuke and Naruto kiss just to get more fangirls to buy his manga and gain its popularity. I will reveal this heist and expose Kishimoto's true objectives! –cackles evilly- Unless of course he gives me Sasuke and Naruto…

**Warning:** Much flirting, lovin' in the pantry, and a creepy redhead.

**A/N: **EEE! –does happy dance- Wooooooo! Over 100 reviews! I am one happy puppy, you guys are awesome! I'm sorry I couldn't reply to all of you. I wish I could, but I think you'd much rather have me busy typing the story than busy typing replies, ne?  
Alrighty, as for the lemon. Well, lets see. Not many people wanted one, I was fairly surprised. So…I probably won't be doing one. But who knows, it all depends… :P

I tried to get it posted on time. I did! I drove home like a maniac, definitely burned my tires or something cuz I smelled something funny. :P  
Well, at least this chapter is slightly longer.

**Revisions:** I have corrected the French! So I think it should be right now, if its not…uh, pretend it is. Eh-he.

o0o

* * *

o0o

Five days have passed now since Naruto started working at the Uchiha household. The blond was slowly getting used to the routine around here, it wasn't so bad. Of course, it would have been better if Sasuke would stop hitting on him every chance he gets (it would have been _even_ better if Naruto could get his cheeks to stop turning red and his legs feeling like jelly every time).  
There was also the crazy butler, whom Naruto recently found out had a peculiar past-time.  
It was on Naruto's second day at work, he was out watering the flower garden (cursing the Uchiha) when he happened to glance by the pool and spotted the butler lying on a lounge chair. Oh, this would have been perfectly acceptable if he was not…_futzing_…_NAKED_! Naruto almost gouged his eyes out and his scream vibrated the whole Uchiha mansion. Needless to say, the nice cold water that was meant for the flowers ended up all on Kakashi.

Yes, it definitely could be better.

But today is different, today Naruto is happy! All through the morning he had a bounce in his step and a grin from ear to ear. There are two things Naruto was looking forward to today:

The men's uniform that was ordered for him is getting picked up right now.

Iruka is coming to visit him today.

Naruto whistled a random tune loudly as he dusted the various sculptures in Living Room #2. 'He couldn't wait to see Iruka!'

Standing at the doorway, the maid called TenTen called out to the blond, "Naruto, your uniform just arrived. Master Sasuke wants you to go to his room to try it on!"

Letting out a whoop, the blond abandoned the duster and ran out the doorway, saying a quick thanks to TenTen on the way.  
The girl just shook her head, yet couldn't help but smile. In the beginning, all the servants were hesitant to approach Naruto, since they knew that he was just a toy for the Uchiha. But his bright smiles and bubbly nature soon won them over and they all loved the blond now.

* * *

Sasuke fingered the fabric of the new uniform and waited for Naruto to get here. During the few days he has been here, the raven haired man has taken even more interest in the blond. He thought of his cute flushed face, the brilliant blue eyes and the rare dazzling smiles… Sasuke shook his head and steeled his heart.  
'but no matter how good he may seems, they're all the same. _All the same…_

I need to play the game to the end. I can't let myself fall into my own trap.'

0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o

Naruto raced up the stairs and banged open the door to Sasuke's room. "I can finally get out of this stupid dress! Where is it? Where is it?"  
The Uchiha was sitting on his mini-sofa, a package opened right beside him. He smirked when he saw the blond rush in.

"Eager to get undressed, are we?"

"Oh, dry up(1)." The blond dismissed him and eagerly grab the contents of the package.

To Sasuke's delight, Naruto changed in front of him again, revealing that delicious looking body.

"Ah…pants feel sooo good." He looked down at his attire, and that's when he noticed the frills—the line of frill down his white dress shirt. 'What?! That's not part of the uniform!'

"Do you like my little personal touch? I think it's rather creative, adds a little…feminine feel to it." Sasuke now got up and walked slowly over to Naruto until he was right up to him. The Uchiha traced a slender finger slowly down Naruto's chest, brushing through each frill.

Naruto hoped he didn't stutter too much. "I-I'm not a girl." He backed up with wavering steps.

"I know that." The raven hair man matched the steps.

The blond's back hit the wall and he gulped. Naruto's blue eyes looked up to meet the deep ebony ones, it advanced towards him; slimming down as eyelids slowly dropped. The blond could now feel the other man's breath, and his gaze involuntarily dropped down to Sasuke's mouth. His lips were slightly parted and radiated temptation, but they stopped short a centimeter from Naruto's own lips.

"This looks good on you…_Naruto._" Sasuke said in a barely audible whisper, emphasizing the last word.

'He said my name…He said my _name_! He never calls me by my first name.' And that's when the blond's face heated up to the colour of a tomato. He looked down at Sasuke's lips again—the ones that practically screamed _kiss me!._  
'So close…just have to move forward…' Naruto began closing his eyes subconsciously.

Suddenly, the Uchiha pulled away, smirking. "Well, the uniform seems to fit perfectly. Excuse me now, I have a meeting to prepare for." With that he walked out of the room with a wave of his hand and a small chuckle.

Naruto didn't how long he slumped against the wall, gawking at the doorway. 'What just happened?'  
He finally let his legs collapse and slowly reached up to touch his lips.

'Great, I think I'm gonna be permanently stained red.'

* * *

Kakashi was getting ready to go out sunbathing again. He checked to make sure he had everything, and was just about to head out the door when the doorbell rang. A little bit annoyed, he went to open to door to say that the Uchiha wasn't available. But before he could open his mouth, his eyes fell on a very good looking man, whose brown hairwas tied in a ponytail and wearing an open shirt that exposed his chest.

"Er…I'm looking for Naruto?" The brunette nervously fiddled with one of his buttons.

The silver haired butler snapped out of his drool-like state. 'Looking for Naruto? Must his former teacher he keeps talking about. Iruka, was it? But I'd never expected him to be this cute…I can't let this chance slip away!'

"Naruto is…uh…milking the horses right now. Why don't I show you around until he's done." Kakashi grinned behind his mask.

Iruka gawked and blinked confusingly at him. "Milking the _horses_—"

"Uh, right this way!" Kakashi quickly pulled the brown haired man in, trying to cover up his little blunder.

* * *

"Hmm, that's funny. I could have sworn I heard the doorbell." Naruto said as he peered at empty lobby.

"Toi!" Shouted the plump French cook behind him. "Venez avec moi!" (Translation: You! Come with me!)

"Eh?"

The cook grabbed him by the collar and uttered a string of French that Naruto could barely understand, his curled moustache wavering with his speech. He was saying something about…a meeting and…preparations. The blond scrunched up his face, trying to think of what he was forgetting…'Oh! The dinner meeting! Wait…'

"No! I can't go yet, Monsieur Mangetout. Iruka hasn't arrived yet! I gotta wait for him—"

"Non! Tu dois aider!" (No! You need to help!)

"M-Mais!" (B-but!)

The cook dragged Naruto toward the kitchen, despite his protests. He was kicking and trying to pull away, though it was in vain for the French man had a strong grasp on his collar.

* * *

"Naruto, can you get the butter out?" TenTen called out from the other side of the kitchen.

"Plus de assaisonnement, Nazuto!"

"Last minute guest, we need one more set of cutlery, can you get that Naruto?"

The said blond lowered his eyelids, 'why do I suddenly have the feeling of déjà vu?' Nevertheless, he hurried to get all these things, all the while keeping an ear out for the doorbell.

"Naruto! We're out of flour, can you run to the pantry and get some?" A maid called out.

"Sure." Naruto immediately dropped the pepper grounder, spilling the whole thing on the chicken. The cook shouted and babbled incoherently in French, but Naruto was already out the door.

The pantry was located a few feet away from the kitchen door, it was a mini sized room and contained almost every storable ingredient imaginable on earth. Suddenly a loud thump sounded from inside the pantry, and the blond jumped. 'A r-rat?'  
Naruto placed his hand on the doorknob, took a deep breath and opened the door.

Lets just say it certainly wasn't a rat.

Iruka laid on the floor, without a shirt on. Kakashi was on top of the man, also shirtless, his hand on Iruka's groin. The two were making out like no tomorrow, making muffled moans and running their hands all over one another. That's when the light came streaming onto them, making them break apart to see who it was.

Naruto's eye's widened and stood in frozen shock. Then came the blush—it started from the tips of his toes and went all the way to up to the roots of his hair.

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" Naruto's scream reverberated through all 3 floors of the mansion.

* * *

'I'm scarred for life, scarred for life. I'll never forgive Kakashi, that futzing cuddler(2)! Taking advantage of Iruka like that.' Naruto thought angrily in his head.

It had taken a whole hour for everybody to calm Naruto down and assure him that Kakashi was not 'raping' Iruka. By that time, the said brunetter man had turned quite red and was very much embarrassed by the whole situation. Kakashi offered to take him home, but Naruto protested and one of the chauffeurs ended up with the task. As soon as Iruka was out of the door, Naruto almost launched at Kakashi with a bread knife, everyone practically had to tie the blond down in order to stop him from castrating the poor butler. It wasn't until Naruto had stopped shouting a few hours later that they finally untied him and let him return to helping out in the kitchen.  
Though Naruto had stopped screaming out loud, that does not mean he was not shouting in his head, yelling obscenities meant for a certain silver haired butler.

"Naruto, you sure you can handle this?" TenTen stood beside the blond, waving a hand in front of him.

"Huh? Oh yea, ab-so-lute-ly."

"Alright, don't drop the dishes. Remember, always place the food on the table with your wrist facing the guest and your elbows away from them. Set it gently, don't make any sounds. Keep your eyes lowered, but not too much. Don't talk. Don't cough. Don't sneeze. Don't make unnecessary movements. Got it?"

Naruto's eyes swirled, 'Holy geez, am I not suppose to breathe as well?' But he nodded anyways.

"Ok, this is the hors d'œuvre. I'll take the cart in and when we get there, we'll both hand them out." With that TenTen pushed the cart filled with plates of prawn filled 'vol au vents' out of the kitchen and into the hallway. Naruto followed suit, straightening his back and hoped that he wouldn't mess up. A lot of important businessmen will be here tonight, Naruto certainly didn't want to look like a fool in front of them.

They both entered into the elegant dining room, lit by a crystal chandelier. Men dressed in fine suits were sitting along the long table chatting quietly to one another. Sasuke was sitting at the end, talking to a red-haired man sitting on his left.

TenTen stopped the cart off to the side, she handed Naruto two plates and grabbed a couple herself. They began handing out the appetizers.

'Wrist towards, elbows away. Wrist towards, elbows away.' Naruto repeated over and over in his head. 'Keep head lowered, don't look up.'  
However, while he said this in his head, he felt the prickly sensation that someone was watching him. It wasn't Sasuke, because he was busy talking to his guests. Naruto sneaked a peek up, and his eyes met green ones; it was the redhead. Immediately, the blond got a shiver down his spine, he quickly looked down again.

"Choice bit of calico(3) you got here, Uchiha." The redhead kept his eyes trained on Naruto making him very uncomfortable. Then he lowered his voice so that only Sasuke could hear, "this will be fun."

The raven haired man momentarily flinched, so slight was the movement that no one caught it but Naruto. He hardened his face and set it to an unreadable expression.

Sasuke ignored the comment and turned towards his other guests and raised his arms, "everyone, please help yourselves." This signaled the beginning of the dinner.

TenTen nudged Naruto in the ribs, making him snap out of his confusion. "Something wrong?"

"Oh…no, I'm fine."

All the servants were lined up against the wall, waiting for the guests to finish their hors d'œuvre so that they would bring them the next entrée. Naruto made sure to keep his eyes lowered so he would not meet the redhead's gaze again.

"Say, isn't Sasuke becoming the spitting image of his brother?" A middle aged woman with large bubs(4) said out loud.

"I agree, getting to be just like Itachi." Another man replied.

"Got his business skills too."

"Indeed, I remember he was even younger than Sasuke right now when he was running this company!"

"You don't say. Well, I suppose he _had_ to of."

Though Sasuke was skilled at hiding his emotions, Naruto could tell he was not pleased. He shoulders shook slightly and he was clasping his hands a bit too tight, making the veins on his hands stand out and his knuckles to turn white. All the while, his face never betrayed his inner feelings.

"Say Sasuke, how long is your brother going to be overseas?"

Naruto was surprised at the monotone manner of his voice, wondering how he can keep such a perfect mask on.

"I'm not sure. For quite some time I think, maybe even until his retirement."

"Oh that's a shame, he was such a good businessman. Konohaville won't be the same without him."

A sudden flash of anger shot through Sasuke's eyes, though he quickly covered it up again.

"Yes, a _shame_."

* * *

The sun had set for a few hours now, all the guests have left and the dinner had been cleaned up. Sasuke sat in the study, sorting through some documents for his company. An incandescent lamp lit his large magahony desk, giving off a warm glow and casting shadows on the wall.

The door opened and Naruto walked in, carrying a tray of herbal tea and biscuits.

"Hey bastard, brought you tea."

"Mhhn, just set them on the desk." Sasuke didn't even look up from his papers.

"You know, I might not have known you for very long. But from what I can tell, you're no god; you need rest too."

The Uchiha went on writing, not even giving a reply.

Naruto crossed his arms, a little miffed that he was ignored. "Say…I didn't know you had a brother."

The pen stopped.

Glad that he got the Uchiha's attention. Naruto placed his hands on the desk and leaned a little closer. "Why do you really get so angry when someone talks about him?"

Sasuke's head snapped up and faced the blond, his dark eyes flaring. "How would you feel if you were told how similar you are to your brother? All the time, everyday of the week. People not complimenting you because they expect you to follow in the footsteps of your brother?" His voice was growing fiercer and louder. "They don't even see me! I am just Itachi's little brother! Sasuke's only successful because his brother was, that's what they all think! I am just a shadow! A SHADOW! They can't see me…" Sasuke's ebony eyes bore into Naruto's blue ones, holding them there for one breathless moment.

Suddenly realizing that he said too much, the raven haired man quickly turned away and went back to writing on his documents.

"Ne…" Naruto started, his voice soft and curiously serene. "I don't have any real family members, so I don't like whats its like to have a brother. I think it'll be nice though, to have someone who is strong and kind, that you can count on and look up to." Naruto continued on, slow and soothing. "I've never met your brother, so I don't know what he's like. But…I think….your family shouldn't determine who you are, that no one else should give you you're identify. You are unique and special, different from anybody else around you. Anybody that says otherwise is blind." The blond finished with a little laugh, "even if you are a bastard."

The pen stopped moving and Sasuke slowly lifted his face up to meet Naruto's.

The light from the lamp reflected off Naruto's eyes, making them shine a shade of breathtaking blue. His blond hair illluminated, framing his face with locks of gold. And he was smiling, a warm, tender smile that seemed to radiated a light of it's own.

Sasuke's heart suddenly thumped, and an unfamiliar warmth spread thoughout his body. He did not know what happened or why, but at that moment he didn't care about anything else but keeping that smiling image of the blond forever imprinted in his mind.

**-End Act 5-**

* * *

(1) Dry up – shut up  
(2) Cuddler – one who likes to make out  
(3) Choice bit of calico – attractive person (supposedly referring to a female, but we'll make an exception :P)  
(4) Bubs – you should remember this one; breasts

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the longer chappie. Now I give you some disappointing news.  
I've caught a cold yesterday, so I feel terrible. My eyes are all watery and I have a major headache, so I've decided to take a week off of writing this fic (gomenasai!). I hope you understand though. I will continue writing next week, so please continue to support me!  
This pup asks for reviews, so that she can feel better :) Much thanks to those who already reviewed! I feel loved.

Oh yes, I have a sketch of Naruto's new costume. So I'll be posting that up tomorrow in deviantart. Also, I went back and coloured Naruto, Sasuke, and Kakashi (very badly coloured, I might add). You can have a look if you wish. (A link to my deviant account can be found in my profile).

Next update: March 8, 9 or 10 (depends on my cold).


	6. Act 6: An Eventful Day

**1923: ACT 6 – AN EVENTFUL DAY AND MOONLIT NIGHT! (revised)**

**Disclaimer:** -reads from a piece of paper and says in monotone voice- The characters and plotline of the anime show; Naruto is copyright of Kishimoto. I do not and will not claim ownership of the copyrighted material nor am I making any profit from this fanfiction. I will also try not to abuse the characters or put them in appalling situations. That is all…you can put the gun away now mister.

**Warning:** The end of the game draws near, new revelations, and a very nice moon.

A/N: Thanks so much for the caring reviews! I'm feeling all better now, and I'm back to writing; yay!  
Now as you read this chapter, you might be surprised that I'm using present tense now, teehee. Well, technically I should be using present tense for all of my chapters, but I have a natural tendency to use past tense (bad habit…). Sooo yea, I should probably go back and correct all of that, ne?  
-whines- But so much work…

**Revision:** Ok, just realized that the present tense thing does in fact sound quite weird (even if it is grammatically correct). I read the whole thing aloud, and it just sounded very unnatural. So yea, I'm changing it back to past tense…

o0o

* * *

o0o

Two months have passed now.

Sasuke was beginning to find himself in a tough situation. There existed a constant teetering seesaw in his head, one side which told him to continue the game and the other to call it all off. It balanced upon that set notion, one side going up after one of the blond's smiles and then going back down after a long duration of recalling past memories.

There was also that indescribable feeling inside his chest, that won't go away and causes him great pain each time he imagined Naruto at the end of the game; eyes filled with tears. But he held onto something, a thin sliver of hope…the hope that this time might be different, that Naruto wouldn't fall into the trap of the game.

* * *

"I'm so excited! I'M SO EXCITED!" Naruto jumped in circles around Kiba and Shino. 

"Dangit Naruto, save some energy for the streets!" Kiba attempted a grab at the hyperactive blond.

"So where are we gonna go, ne? ne?"

It was Kiba and Shino's day off work, but unluckily for them, the Uchiha asked for them to take Naruto out on the streets for some fun. The blond upon hearing this, was ecstatic and took to bouncing around them.  
Finally, calming the blond the enough for them to get into the waiting car, they drove towards the busy downtown of Konohaville.

* * *

The trio sat outside a quaint little cafe, the two dark haired boys slumped in their chairs looking as if they were pet-sitting 101 dogs for 3 days. Kiba felt as if his soul was slowly escaping out of his mouth.  
//Naruto futzing dragged us to every store along the main streets, browsed through them (not buying a thing). Then near lunchtime, we bumped into a pair of cute girls that appeared to know Naruto, which would have been nice 'cept for the fact that they kept badgering us for information about the Uchiha. Finally we shushed them by buying them some jewelry in a nearby shop. But then after lunch, we accidentally ran into a green-clad, hop(1)-sprung, voice-of-a-loudspeaker, teeth-that-shine-like-1000-watt-bulbs paperboy that took to chasing after Naruto. Of course, since Shino and I were in charge of watching the damn bugger, we had to run after them as well. But boy, this fella had an insane amount of energy! After about 30 streets later, Kiba noticed Shino wasn't with him anymore. Turns out he went to buy some whiskey to act as a distraction for Lee, it worked. Thank God.//

The only thing Kiba couldn't understand was how the blond could still have so much energy left (probably even more than the crazy paperboy)!  
Here he was, legs on fire, arms falling off, lungs probably burst, and oxygen deprived. Yet the blond was sitting there, happily slurping away at his bowl of noodles, and looking as refreshed as if he just woke up from a nap.

"Mmm, this stuff is soooo good." Naruto said excitedly. "Kiba, Shino, you should really try this!"

"Futz…Naruto…I think….oxygen is…good for…now." He wheezes out, then winces. "Maybe some…painkillers as…well."

Shino merely just huffed a few times and shook his head.

Naruto tilted the bowl up and finished the contents. "Alright, but your missing out. I'm gonna go inside and get another bowl! I'll be right back." With that, the blond got up and skipped back into the little store.

Meanwhile, a hooded figure that sat in the table next to them looked on with curiosity at the blond boy. He sipped his black java(2) and then turned his attention back to the two dark haired boys that are slowly recovering.

"You…ok there, Shino?"

"…"

"And how!(3) I'm ready to drop dead too. How'd we get stuck with Naruto in the first place?"

"… … …"

"Yeah, kinda weird that the Uchiha wanted us to take him out today. Wonder what he's up to."

"…"

"You know, now that I think about it, he _has_ been acting a little strange lately. Gawd, I actually saw him one time, smiling! He never smiles! Smirk; yes, smile; no! What is the world coming to?!"

"… …"

"WHAT! NO WAY! You're all wet!(4) He is NOT in love with Naruto. Have you forgotten what happened to all the others?! This time shouldn't be any different."

"… … … …"

"Well, yeah, I guess he _has_ kept Naruto longer than usual. Still! That doesn't mean anything."

"…"

"I'M BACK! Sorry to make you fellas wait, the line was a bit long. Now, I present you: ramen!"

"Hey Peach Fuzz, I didn't order no noodles!"

"Aw, but Kiba, you gotta try them. They're really yummy!"

"…"

The hooded man watched the trio on with interest, his eyes trained on a certain blond, lips slowly curling into an evil grin. He finished his coffee, then slowly got up, brushing off his cloak. The sunlight suddenly passed across his hood, revealing a pale skin and a pair of glowing golden eyes. The man turned around and walked away from the trio, his grin growing larger on his face.

* * *

The smiling blond hummed a random tune as he wipes down Sasuke's desk. Though he was told he was not to touch the desk, it was getting quite dusty on the surface. A little wipe won't hurt, ne? Sasuke will probably be happy to have his desk cleaned, he thought with a cute smile.

//Hui, I have so much fun today! It's been a while since I went out on the streets. I guess Sasuke isn't that much of a bastard after all, he must have sensed how much I wanted to go out. Hehe.//

Naruto folded the rag in two and continued wiping; however, his hand accidentally knocked over a picture frame.

"Oops." Naruto picked up the frame, he was about to put it back when the 4 figures caught his eye. He puts down the rag and brought the picture closer. 'It's…Sasuke's family.' A handsome man in a suit has his arm around a beautiful woman's waist, her shapely figure was brought out by the fancy dress she was wearing. In front of the man was a young man that looked very similar to Sasuke, though his features seemed harder. The woman's hand was placed on the shoulder of a child…  
It was a smiling Sasuke.  
Naruto heart thumped. He gently placed his hands on the glass, and smiled back.

"Shouldn't you be in bed, Naruto?" Kakashi's voice came from the doorway.

'Ah!' Startled, Naruto hands fumbled, almost dropping the frame.

"I wouldn't touch the Uchiha's things if I were you."

"Sorry Kakashi, the desk looked a little dusty. A little wiping wouldn't hurt, right?" The butler shrugged and Naruto placed the picture gently back on the desk, the smiles of the parents, in sync with Sasuke's, shone out at him.  
'Sasuke looks so happy. Hmm, I don't think I've ever met his parents though. Where are they now?' He mused as he grabbed his rag and walked towards the door where Kakashi was standing.

"Ne Kakashi…where are the Uchiha's folks?"

Kakashi paused in his steps and looked at the blond incredulously, "I'm surprised you haven't heard about it. It was all over the papers a few years back."

"Did something bad happen?" Naruto stared at the silver haired man in confusion.

Kakashi sighed and started his steps up again, "The Great Uchiha House Fire; it happened when Sasuke was 7. I remember that day like it was yesterday…It was a Tuesday, and I had just picked Sasuke up from the school. It looked like he was really excited to tell his parents something because he ran straight out of the car when we arrived at the mansion. Back then, all the members of the Uchiha family lived together in one building, it's ironic now since I realize how much of an easy target that was. After Sasuke ran in, a series of explosion went off throughout the mansions. Then the whole building was engulfed in flames. As I stared at the fire, I had thought over and over again that no one was going to make it out alive. But suddenly, out of the flames, Itachi walked out carrying Sasuke in his arms. It was a miracle, they were the only survivors; everyone else died. We think it was an assassination plot though we haven't found any evidence yet; however, whoever it was, succeeded in their plans, not a single body was left whole; all turned to ash. After that, I suppose Sasuke developed some sort of grudge against Itachi, he blamed him for only saving him, and not his parents. He never really got over their deaths…"

The silver haired butler sighed again, and glanced behind to see if Naruto was still paying attention.  
What surprised him, though, are the dewy tears in his blue eyes, threatening to fall. Kakashi stops in his tracks and turned around.

"…Naruto…"

The blond quickly brought his sleeve up to wipe his eyes. "H-He must've been really lonely."

For a second, Kakashi widened his eyes at the comment; then closed his eyes and smiled.  
He slowed down a little so Naruto could come beside him, and he put his hand upon the blond head. "You're a good kid Naruto."

"E-Eh?"

Kakashi laughed, "Come on, you should go to bed now; don't want to stunt your growth. We wouldn't want people to mistake you for a schoolchild."

"Why you-!"

* * *

Sand, lots of sand. Naruto was dying…  
He was crawling through the sandy dunes of the great Sahara desert, rasping out; "Water…water…so thirsty." Just when he thought he was gonna die on the white hot sand. The brightness somehow turned dark, and the sky was replaced with the walls of his room at the mansion.

Naruto sat up in his bed, 'A dream!'

He swallowed, but discovered that he was in fact parched. Deciding that a glass of water would be good right now, he got up and put on a housecoat, then quietly slipped out of his room and made his way out of his room and into the kitchen.

'Ahhhh…that hit the spot.' Satisfied, Naruto rinsed the glass and puts it back into the cupboard. He yawned and gets ready to head back to his room.

Walking though the hallway, Naruto noticed a faint glow coming from Sasuke's study.  
'That's funny, it's the middle of the night. He shouldn't be still up.'  
Naruto walked up to the door, there was a crack where the light was seeping through. He peers inside, scanning the room.

What he saw; took his breath away.

The clear, bright full moon seen through the large windows, that were usually covered, illuminated the whole room. The moonlight outlined the silhouette of the person sitting on the windowsill, his glowing outline of his face contrasted against the night sky. He looked so beautiful, like an unearthly divine being; perceived in the mind but unreachable to all. But what was most breathtaking was his eyes, those usual dark unemotional eyes, were now revealing a whirlpool of emotions.  
Naruto's arm unconsciously reached up, wanting to have some sort of contact with this being. The door creaked, breaking the silence.  
Sasuke's head turned towards the sound, his eyes quickly clearing up.

"Who's there?"

Naruto pushed open the door; not saying a word, just stared silently at Sasuke.

"Naruto? What are you doing up?" The Uchiha gets off the ledge and walked towards the blond.

The said blond lowered his gaze, averting his eyes away from Sasuke, and fidgeted.

Sasuke smirked, and comes right up to the blond. "Coming to look for me in the middle of the night, you know, that makes me wonder…"  
He bent down, and placed his lips right next to Naruto's ear, "Have you fallen for me?"

He draws up; face placed a few centimeters from Naruto's, waiting for his reaction.

Naruto slowly brings his head up, then slowly raises his gaze towards Sasuke's own.  
Sasuke's eyes widened, breath hitched in his throat. Those bright cerulean eyes were impossibly clear, its gaze bore into him; passing through his protective layers and embracing his most inner self. It was though he could see everything, and understood it all; and was wordlessly saying 'it's alright, it's okay, I understand.'  
Naruto reaches up and gently brushes his fingers across his cheeks, smudging the trail of tears that he didn't even realize he shed.

"Don't cry." With that, Naruto stood on his tiptoes, brought his face close enough that one could count each golden lash; and placed his lips on Sasuke's in a gentle kiss. Had Naruto's eyes not been closed, he would have seen Sasuke's eyes shot wide, clear and true; revealing all his welled up emotions.

Sasuke's arms wrapped around Naruto's slim body; closed his eyes and surrendered to the warmth.

All that night, the two clung to each other; uniting over and over again. The moon their only witness.

**-End Act 6-**

* * *

(1) hop - opiate or marijuana  
(2) java – coffee but I'm sure everyone knew that already :P  
(3) And how! – I agree!  
(4) all wet - incorrect

A/N: X3 Oh dear, I just can't do lemons… -sigh- I am such a sappy/corny writer.  
Anyways, on another note: It is now March Break! Woooot, no school. This whole week I'll probably be working on my costume for Anime North. I'm going as Sakura from Tsubasa Chronicle (her costume on the cover of ch.100 Vol.14). Sigh, it'll be a lot of work. My cousin is going as Syoaran, she's like a few years younger than me but is still taller. How sad is that? T.T

Ah, if anyone hasn't seen the new fanart yet. Here it is (please comment if you have a deviant account!):

Naruto's New Uniform: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 48941289 /  
Naruto's Smile: http (:) // www (.) deviantart (.) com / deviation / 50086435 /

Next chappie will be pretty exciting, a 1920's party, teehee. Please look forward to it!

Next Update: Probably before March 16, 2007.


	7. Act 7: The Formal Party

**1923: ACT 7 – THE FLAPPER DRESS AND FORMAL PARTY! **

**Disclaimer:** Koinu-chan, dressed in ninja attire, crawls on the rooftop of Kishimoto-san's house, the 'mission impossible song' playing in the background. She drops in through an open window and…!  
'The Special Alarm for Fabulous Manga Writers to Protect their Slashable Male Characters from Rabid Fangirls' sounded, so sadly she had to make a break for it in a white van before those nice policemen could come and take her away. So she would still be able to continue her fanfiction (which she does not claim ownership to the characters in it…yet!). Stay tuned for Mission Impossible 2!

**Warning:** An orange flapper dress, a formal party and the Charleston.

A/N: I went to visit University of Waterloo on Tuesday, which is my future university that I'm attending next year. It is quite a big campus, if not for the map, we would of indeed been lost. I had to wake up at 4:30 am, so we would get there in time. Urgh, and we walked around for most of the day. My legs were sooo sore, they felt like they were sliced up and soaked in vinegar for 12 hours.

Anyways, enough about that, on with the show! (It hasn't been proofread, so forgive me for mistakes)

o0o

* * *

o0o

A single bright ray of sunlight passed through a crack in the curtain of the window. It slowly drifted across the bedsheet, heading up towards the sleeping face, and rested upon the heavily closed lids. It fluttered, and the body shifted and groaned.

_'Uhh…must not have closed the drapes properly…stupid sunlight…' _

The boy shifted again, turning his head away from the window, so that the sunlight hit his gold locks instead of his eyes.

'_Too early...going back to sleep…'_ The grandfather clock across the hall ticked away, then chimed 8 times.

Suddenly the blond bolted straight up in the bed, his face bright red. In an almost fearful motion, he peeked under his covers, then dropped it down again.

"Oh maaannn…we really did it last night, didn't we?" Naruto moaned, realizing that it was not just a dream.

Last night, after seeing Sasuke like that, he could not help but be drawn to him. It was like an invisible rope tugging him forward, wrapping around them and made them want to be as physically close to one another as possible. He could not explain it, but it felt right. It was not just a physical bond they shared, but a mental one as well. Naruto could almost reach out and touch all of Sasuke's emotions, intertwining their own worlds into one.  
**Author throws sakura petals.**  
_(The futz? Just how corny can you get?)_  
**Author laughs sheepishly, then scurries away. **

Naruto stared around the room, '_Sasuke must have carried me back to my room after I passed out." _He mused as he blushed in embarrassment.

The blond got up, intending to get dressed and then to look for Sasuke.  
On his way to the closet, pain shot up from his bottom all the way up his spine. The blond clutched his behind and whimpered. Naruto will admit it felt good…still…

_'he didn't have to do it so many times!' _

* * *

"Kakashi, has the arrangements with Gaara been set?"

"Yes, master Sasuke. They are ready for tonight."

"Good…"

"…Sasuke, you shouldn't do this. It will only hurt you—both of you. Just let it go-"

The raven haired raised his hand to silence the butler. "That's enough Kakashi." Sasuke slowly turned his chair around to face the curtained window. They both stayed like that, motionless.

"Say…Kakashi. Do you think I am a fool to have hope…to have _trust_ for him?" The Uchiha uttered in a shaky whisper.

Beneath the mask, Kakashi smiled. "No…not at all."

* * *

"Eh? Sasuke left?" Naruto enquired the butler quizzically.

"Yes, you just missed him; he left for a business meeting a few minutes ago." Kakashi replied.

"Oh…" the blond looked slightly dejected.

Kakashi's visible eye curved, "Missing him already after your exciting night? I guess you'll have to take a check(1)."

"K-K-KAKASHI!" Naruto stuttered, face bright red. "H-How do you know about it?"

"Well…you weren't exactly quiet."

Naruto's body froze in shock; his face went starkly white, eyes lolled back and his soul drifted out of his open mouth.

**Let's give him a moment, shall we. **

The blond finally snapped out of it and proceeded to clutch onto the front Kakashi's suit; "D-Did anyone else hear?!?" asked Naruto hysterically.

"Who knows…" replied the butler indifferently, bringing his arms up and shrugging. Though in reality, he was forcing back the urge the laugh.

There was now tears in Naruto eyes, he clutched his head and crouched down on the ground. "I wonder if it's possible to die from embarrassment…" He wailed hopelessly.

Kakashi, deciding that he had teased the blond enough, burst out laughing. He patted the blond on the head; "Don't worry Naruto, my room is the only one that is anywhere near Sasuke's study. I'm quite sure no one else heard."

The blond sniffed and wiped his eyes.

"Oh right, Sasuke left a message before he left."

Naruto perked up.

"He said you were to accompany him to a formal party in the afternoon, he will meet you there at 17 00 hours. Since you are to dress appropriately, Sasuke already picked out the outfit for you."

"REALLY? I've never been to a formal party!" Naruto jumped up excitedly. "And a get-up(2) all ready for me! I can't wait, can I see it now, ne? ne?"

Kakashi stifled another urge to bust his guts laughing. "Sure, follow me."

The silver haired butler led the way to where the outfit was kept, Naruto followed suit, rambling on about how nervous that he might have to dance since he was such a heeler(3) at waltzes.

Kakashi went into the closet and drew out the outfit, all the while trying not to burst out laughing. It was a flapper dress, in a light pumpkin colour, with sequins and a sheer orange overlay. It gathered below the hips and gave away to a fringe bottom. There was also a matching hat completed with fake sunflowers.

Naruto's jaw dropped to the floor. "WHAT THE FUTZ?!" He pointed at the fringy thing. "THAT'S what I'm suppose to wear?"

Kakashi chuckled in amusement, "Sure is."

" NO WAY AM I WEARING THAT!" Naruto shouted angrily and crossed his arms.

"But Naruto, is it Master Sasuke's wishes that you wear this. And it is my job to ensure that you do."

"Well, both of you can just go to hell!"

Kakashi grinned devilishly, "My my, Naruto. How can you say that after last night?" He switched his tone and mimicked Naruto's voice; "S-Sasuke…ahhh…No! That won't fit!...I-It feels good…ahhh…mmm….harder-!"

"S-STOP!" Naruto face was flaming red. "Ok, I get it!"

"I wonder what other people will think of this predicament. Maybe I should ask Iruka whether he thinks you should wear the dress or not." Kakashi placed his hands on his chin thoughtfully.

"GYAH! NO!" Naruto's eyes widened and he waved his hands frantically. "Ok, I'll wear the dress, just don't tell Iruka!"

The silver haired butler grinned, proud that he manipulated Naruto once again.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this…" Naruto grumbled, a slight blush staining his cheeks. He was wearing the stupid orange dress and stood in front of the grand building where the party is being held. Kakashi chuckled and pushed him forward.

"Oh but Naruto, you look lovely, and I'm sure other people will love your look too."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about." Naruto said through clenched teeth.

As they entered the front door and into the lobby, they could hear soft classical music coming in from the main room. A manservant took their outer jackets and they made their way towards the room.

"Ne, where's Sasuke?"

A look of solemnity passed over Kakashi's face, but he quickly hid it with a smile. "He'll show up soon. Meanwhile, why don't we have some fun?"

They entered into the large dance room that was lit magnificently with crystal chandeliers. A formally dressed band is playing various instruments on the stage, while couples waltzed in front of them. Various groups of people stood by cocktail tables and chatted to one another; others sat at round tables and snacked on some appetizers. Suddenly a black haired man in a green suit appeared in front of them, he had the bushiest eyebrows Naruto has ever seen, even more so than Lee. He gave a huge grin which exposed his sparkling teeth.

"Kakashi, my friend! S'been a while! How have you been doing? Eating enough, exercising enough?" Mr. Bushy Eyebrows threw an arm around Kakashi, who looked like he wanted to die.

Naruto was now certain this man was related to Lee.

He slowly inched away, not wanting to be caught up in with an older version of the hopped-up(4) paperboy. The blond glanced around, looking for something to do while Kakashi was busy. Suddenly he caught a flash of red, '_G-Gaara?_' He looked closer. 'Jeepers! It really is that freaky redhead!'  
Naruto looked frantically around for somewhere to hide, not finding any, he quickly seated himself at the nearest table, pushing himself into the chair as low as possible. He glanced once more at the redhead to make sure he had not seen him, then breathed a sigh of relief before turning around. That's when he realized he had company at the table. The two were seated across from him stared back, the fellow and the girl seemed to be related for they both had shiny black hair and clear grey eyes. Naruto laughed sheepishly, giving a little wave; "Uh…Hello! My name is Naruto."

The man with the long hair gave a curt nod, "Neji Hyuuga."

"M-My name is H-Hinata Hyuuga." The short haired girl stuttered, smiling shyly.

Naruto immediately warmed up to her and smiled back. A moment of silence passed.  
"Uh…nice party, huh?"

Hinata nodded back, but Neji rolled his eyes, "Yes…swell..."

It went on like this, Naruto trying to initiate conversations but the replies was either a blush or a short curt reply. He was slowly getting bored out of his mind, he could see why Neji didn't like being here. The band seemed to play nothing but classical music or soft blues, definitely not the kind of songs _he_ could dance to.

Naruto suddenly straightened up, getting an idea. He looked towards the two,  
"Hey Hinata, Neji! Would you two like to dance?"

The two Hyuugas looked a little startled at the sudden question, Hinata nodded her head politely and uttered a quiet "A-Alright." Neji merely gave him a strange look and shrugged.

"Hold on a sec, I'll be right back." Naruto got up and rushed off towards the stage, leaving the two perplexed people behind.

The blond maneuvered through the crowds and climbed up to the stage, he talked to the conductor for a minute, then the man laughed and gave him an 'OK'. Naruto ran back to the table to drag the two Hyuugas to the middle of the dance floor.

"N-Naruto?" The girl looked confused and Neji just looked irritated.

"I hope you two know the Charleston!" The blond grinned enthusiastically. Hinata's eyes widen and she tried to stutter a protest, but Naruto had already turned to the stage and shouted, "READY?" The whole room quieted, everyone was looking towards the front to wonder what was going on.

The conductor gave a thumbs up, a man in the band beat two sticks together, shouting, "ONE, TWO! AH, ONE-TWO-THREE!"  
The saxophone player belted out the Charleston beat, and one by on, the other instruments joined in. Pretty soon, the whole room was filled the jazzy tune of The Charleston Dance.

Naruto whooped, throwing his arms up and started to swing his legs to the beat. Hinata stood there embarrassingly and blushed, Neji looked shocked. _You don't do these kinds of dances at a formal party!_ The blond was oblivious to the fact that he was the only one dancing.

"Come on Hinata! Raise your arms! Neji, swing you feet!" Naruto grabbed onto Hinata and swung her around.

Naruto's cheery smile was contagious, and despite herself, Hinata found herself laughing and swinging her feet as well. The rest of the people in the room caught on as well, moving their body in beat with the song, arms flailing and doing silly steps. Pretty soon everyone was laughing and dancing as dramatically as possible, even Neji found himself smiling and joining in.

The blond laughed merrily, dancing the most animated of them all. He turned towards Neji, "You should smile more often, you look more handsome when you do!"

Neji cheeks turned pink.

* * *

The raven haired man leaned against wall of a shadowed hallway; he looked into the whirling mass of arms and legs, focusing on the laughing blond.

"He really is something else…" Sasuke smiled faintly.

Out of the shadows, a figure appeared behind the Uchiha. His lips curled into an amused smile, "Interesting little blond isn't he? Too bad he's going to run to _me_ soon."

Sasuke turned his head around and gave him a cold glare, "Just remember to back off if he refuses."

"Of course." Gaara smirked and gave a mock bow. He turned around and took his leave.

Sasuke looked back at the cheery blond again, a pained look crossing his face.

**-End Act 7-**

**

* * *

**

(1) Check – A kiss for later (often people would ask cash or check? Cash: kiss now, check: kiss me later. Hehe, I find this amusing)  
(2) get-up – outfit  
(3) heeler – poor dancer  
(4) hopped up – under the influence of drugs ( just a clarification! Lee is NOT doing drugs, its just a metaphorical humour thing).

A/N: Ah, not the best chapter. Was in a rush to get this up as soon as possible, eh-he. Well anyways, I really wanted to write about the Charleston cuz for my history class. A group of people and I actually performed a short skit doing the Charleston dance, I wore a flapper dress and everything. It was so fun!  
Anyways, if you wanna see what it's like. Here's a link for a youtube video that shows the dance: (take out all brackets and put in equal signs)

http(:)//www(.)youtube(.)com/watch?v(equal sign)-0TW5I1VuDI&mode(equal sign)related&search(equal sign)

Ahh, sorry but no new fanart this time. I think I'm gonna draw Naruto in the flapper dress this week, so look forward to that!

Next Update: Sat. March 24, 2007


	8. Act 8: The Game

**1923: ACT 8 – THE PROPOSITION AND THE ANSWER?**

**Disclaimer:** Yuppers, I've come up with a fool proof plan to get Sasuke and Naruto. Distract Kishimoto-san with lots of pocky, grab and bind the two, escape on a jet plane to Hawaii, change our identities and live on coconut juice wearing only grass skirts. –sparkles, hearts- Mmm…beach smex (makes a note not to forget videocamera).

**Warning:** Dun dun dun…Sasuke's game!

o0o

* * *

o0o

The music started dying down, most of the people had sat down in the chairs, worn and tired. Naruto wiped some beads of sweat off his face and grinned at Hinata and Neji across from him. They too were tired and had their hands on their knees, taking quick gasps of air.

"Man, that was darb(1)! You two are great gigolos(2)!"

"I-I'm not really allowed to dance The Charleston, b-but that was f-fun!" Hinata smiled at the blond.

"This sure beat waltzing." Neji added.

"Naruto!" Kakashi suddenly appear behind the blond, his voice stern though his face didn't look it. "There you are! I was wondering what all the ruckus was about. It seems like you were the one who was responsible for it."

Naruto jumped slightly at the butler's voice, and turned around to laugh sheepishly at him. "Eh-he, thought the place needed a little livening up?"

Kakashi chuckled and ruffled his hair, "I guess it's alright, at least no one seems to be complaining." He turned a little and bowed to Hinata and Neji. "Mr. and Miss Hyuuga, hope he didn't cause too much trouble."

A moment of awkward silence passed.

"HE!?!" Neji shouted.

"N-Naruto's a b-boy?"

Kakashi raised his head up, much amused by their outburst. "Well…genetically, yes. Appearance-wise, not so much."

"HEY!" Naruto retorted to the butler, then turning to the Hyuugas, he clasped his hands together and bowed his head. "I'm so sorry! I forgot to tell you two sooner! You must think I'm trying to double-cross you(3), but I'm not! I was forced to wear this dress, I swear!"

Neji turned his head sideways, slightly blushing, though refused to reply.

Hinata, who had been quite red, now recovered slightly. "A-Ah, Naruto…it's o-ok, you don't have to a-apologize."

Naruto grabbed the girl's hands appreciatively, "Hinata! You're so nice to me!" He said, tearing up.

She blushed, "E-Eh?...ah…no…n-not really…"

The blond, suddenly remembering his manners, proclaimed; "You must thirsty Hinata! You too, Neji! I'll go get drinks for everyone."

"Me as well?" Kakashi inquired.

"No, you go get your own!"

"How mean…" the silver haired butler feigned sadness.

Naruto stuck out his tongue at him and turned around to make his way towards the punch stand. Grabbing two cups, he ladled in the pink liquid until they were full, he was just about to return with them when a woman came up to him. Her spiky blond hair tied up in 4 places and she wore an elegant lavender coloured flapper dress; in her hand she held a long cigarette holder even though there was nothing on the end of it. She came up to him and gave an once-over glance.

"I presume you are Naruto Uzumaki?"

"Uh, yes." Naruto replied in confusion for he had never seen her before and wondered how she knew his name. "And you are?"

"Temari, I'm Gaara's sister."

Naruto's lips formed into an 'o', being unsure what to say.

The blonde girl tilted her head towards an exit. "Gaara wants to speak to you."

Naruto sputtered, "What!...Why?...B-But- " He looked down at the two glasses in his hands.

"I suggest you come right now, my brother hates waiting."

There was something about Temari's look that made Naruto put down the drinks. It was a stern gaze, yet it wavered; he couldn't quite put his finger on it. But he could tell this was important. The girl turned around, gesturing towards Naruto to follow her; he nodded. She led the way through a side door and into a series of long hallways, the number of people in them becoming less and less as they turned at each corner. Finally she stopped right before a bend, and turned around, not meeting Naruto's gaze. Temari, in a quiet whisper, told him to walk around the corner; that was where Gaara was.

Naruto gulped and took a few steps forward, he turned to thank the girl, but she was already walking away.

He exhaled slowly and rounded the corner.

There was a mini-lounge that was situated at the corner of where the two hallways met, Gaara sat in one of the chairs there. His red hair gleamed even under the dim light, his eyes were closed but there was a confident smirk on his face. Two men dressed in black tuxedos stood beside him, one of them carrying a metal briefcase.

"Uh…G-Gaara? You wanted to talk to me?" Naruto meekly spoke out, nervously approaching him.

The redhead opened his eyes and his green eyes gleamed. He placed his hands together in front of him; "Yes." Gaara reached over beside him to take a champagne glass off the table, taking a sip as he scrutinized the blond in front of him. Naruto felt unpleasant shivers throughout his body, and suddenly got the urge to bolt out of there and run as far away as possible. Every bit of the situation seemed wrong – from Sasuke not showing up, to the strange look in the girl's eyes. This cannot be good.

"Enjoying the party?" Gaara asked leisurely as he placed his drink back on the side table.

"Uh…Y-Yeah, I am." Naruto unconsciously bit his lip.

Gaara smirked, "I must compliment you on your choice of dress, you look…lovely."

This time Naruto got a little angry, despite his nervousness. "Look, can we stop beating around the bush? You called me here, I'm here now; so just get straight to the point."

The redhead chuckled in delight, "You're a feisty one…I can see why the Uchiha likes you."

Naruto's face grew hot and his hands trembled in rage, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Alright, I'll get to the point then." He looked straight at the blond and smiled his cold smile. "I hear you owe the Uchiha a bit of money."

"I've almost paid it off." Naruto replied firmly.

"I have a bit of a proposition for you. I suspect after your done working for him, he'll just throw you away and forget all about your existence--"

"Sasuke wouldn't do that!" The blond in front of him shouted.

"Ah, but that's the kind of person he is. The truth of the matter is that all of his previous relationships have never lasted for more than three months. Also, if he were to have a serious relationship, he would marry a woman, of course one of high social standing, to carry on his lineage."

Naruto looked down at the floor, realizing what he said was right. Even if they loved each other; he's a man, meaning they could never truly be together.

"Why not leave him right now? You're going to be discarded sooner or later. Leave him before he hurts you." Gaara beckoned to one of the men behind him, the man came up beside him and opened the suitcase, displaying its contents: rows and rows of cold hard cash

"Here is 10,000 dollars(4). Come work for me Naruto, and this will be yours. Just break it off with the Uchiha and prove your loyalty to me by giving yourself to me for one night." Gaara grinned confidently, and waited for the blond's answer.

* * *

Sasuke leaned against the cool white wall, careful to keep his breathing under control so that he was not heard. His heart thumped wildly—hammering against his ribs like a ferocious animal trying to break out of its cage. He dared a peek around the corner, and saw the redhead sitting in a relaxed position in his chair, sneering ever so slightly. Naruto had his head bowed down, silent and unmoving.

How Sasuke wanted to wipe that smirk off Gaara's face. He wanted to punch him, knock him out and carve 'Naruto's mine' on that hated pale skin.

But he was weak.

Sasuke knew it, it was undeniable. He was insecure, skeptical, and paranoid. He did not like grief, he did not like sorrow, and did not like pain. He never wanted to get hurt again, not since his parents deaths, so he put up a shield; a mask in which to hide behind.  
He did not know when the blond did it. Perhaps it was the moment he met him, perhaps it was just now. But this blond broke down the shield, intentionally or unintentionally, he had stripped him bare.

This game was horrible, he knew. But it was unavoidable; he wanted the assurance, he needed the confirmation.

* * *

Naruto stood motionless for a long time.  
Finally the blond slowly raised his head up, he looked at Gaara for a moment and then looked at the briefcase full of money.

He took a step.

Then another.

And another, until he stood in front of the rows of cash.  
Gingerly, with a shaky hand, he reached towards the money.

Gaara's smirk split all across his face.

* * *

Sasuke's heart stopped thumping—he could not be sure it beat at all.

He was now running, his mind barely registering that. He just knew he had to get away.  
Something lodged in his throat and his lungs felt constricted.  
His vision blurred.  
His legs burned.

Still he ran,  
as if he ran fast enough, he could outrun the pain.

**-End Act 8-**

* * *

(1) darb – great person or thing  
(2) gigolo – dancing partner  
(3) double-cross - to cheat, to lie to  
(4) Again, remember that average annual earnings were about $1,000. So $10,000 would be considered a lot.

A/N: Oh please don't hate me…I'm sorry for ending it there. I'm sorry this chapter is so short. And no, this isn't what it sounds like! Everything will be clear in the next chapter!  
Which I gotta tell you… it might be delayed as I have 2 tests and 2 essays due next week. Eek! –runs away-

Next update: Not sure, but I'll aim for Sat, March 31. I can't promise though… Blame my teachers!


	9. Act 9: A Single Shoe

**1923: ACT 9 – HURTFUL WORDS AND A SINGLE SHOE**

**Disclaimer:** Oh dear…seems like Kishimoto-san hired a small army of private investigators to search for me. They are pretty close on my tracks; Hawaii is not safe anymore… Come Sasuke and Naruto! We shall go to Venice and partake in joyful boat riding, singing corny love songs and eating expensive spaghetti!

Sasuke: If you haven't noticed already, the author is completely delusional; please ignore everything she says.

Koinu-chan: -singing- _When the moon hits your eye like a big-a pizza pie, that's amore…_

Naruto: -singing along- _Tippi-tippi-tay, Tippi-tippi-tay, like a gay tarantella._

Sasuke: -smacks both of them- Stop embarrassing yourselves…and what the hell is a gay tarantella?

**Warning:** Mu-hahahaha, I'm so evil. Evilly-evil. –cough-

A/N: If you can tell, I am in a very good mood! One of my essay's due date got pushed to Tuesday! –does a happy dance- Plus the snow has melted here, the weather is much warmer and I finally am able to wear my school skirt! (Ehe, yes. My school has uniforms…it kinda sucks, but you get used to it.)  
So yeah,  
Later Due Date –plus- Warm Weather –equals- Happy Author –equals- Faster Update! XD

Also,  
Minna, Thank you so much for the reviews! I don't think I thank you guys enough; if not for you all, I would have never continued this fic for this long. So reap in the benefits of your looovve (if it can be called a benefit, eh-he).

Now I gotta get back into an angsty mood in order to properly write this chapter… XP

o0o

* * *

o0o

Kakashi was very worried; the confrontation with Gaara should be occurring right now. He took another sip of wine and half listened to Gai's rants, he also kept an eye on the two Hyuugas in case they felt the need to search for Naruto. They looked slightly worried, even though Kakashi had assured them that Naruto probably just had to go use the John (1).

All he could do now is have hope in the blond.

Suddenly, through the door across the room, he spotted a blur of blue rush past; it looked like Sasuke. He quickly put down his glass and excused himself from Gai. Then Kakashi made his way to the door. _'Something must have happened…Naruto couldn't have…could he?'_

He took a left, towards the place of the confrontation.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe this was happening.

Gaara was sitting in front of him, in all his sexy glory (Naruto begrudgingly admits), presenting him with 10,000 dollars and offering him a life-long job along with great sex…

_So who the HELL does he think he IS?!_

Naruto reached out towards the suitcase, his hands shaking from trying to control his rage. It passed over the rows of cash, and rest for a moment on the top portion of the suitcase, then promptly pushed the lid down with a bang. It nearly caused to man holding the case to drop it, he looked confused and looked towards Gaara in question.

The redhead's eyes had widened, his mouth hung slightly agape and a look of surprise etched into his face.

Naruto turned angrily towards him, his eyes like hot blue fire. He took slow, deliberate steps towards him, his gaze never leaving Gaara's, until he loomed right in front of him. For the first time in Gaara's life, he felt a shiver of fear through him. The two men made a move towards them, but the redhead brought up his hands and signaled them to back off.

"_You_…" Naruto spit the word out like it was some foul object from his mouth. "How _dare_ you talk like you know what Sasuke is like, how _dare_ you think that I am so shallow, and how _DARE…" _Naruto's voice became heavy and clearly emphasized the last few words, "…you even _suggest_ I betray someone I care about."

Gaara opened his mouth, but then closed them again, not knowing what to say.

"So you want to know my answer?" Naruto reached beside the man and grabbed the half full glass of champagne; then tipped it over and poured its contents onto Gaara.

The redhead's eyes closed instinctively, then reopened again after the liquid passed over them. His mouth hung open in shock, his mind trying to process what just happened.

"I hope that's clear enough." The blond dropped the glass on the floor, causing it to shatter into pieces. "Oh, and this…" Naruto, in a seemingly paroxysm of rage, drew back his fist and punched in square in the nose. Gaara's head snapped back, and blood gushed from his nose. "…is for suggesting that I sleep with you."

Naruto back off, and turned towards the two men. "And you two…" Here, this blond wearing a flapper dress, who was barely over five feet was standing up to two bulky, muscular, 7 feet men. Yet it was the two men who cowered in fear at the look in Naruto's eyes. "Find yourselves some better jobs, don't work for scum like him."

With that the blond walked away, leaving Gaara clutching his nose in disbelief.

* * *

At last Sasuke slowed down and realized he was outside of the building now. He took ragged intakes of breath, and willed the ache in his chest to go away. The cool night air did little to clear his chaotic mind, and the stillness only increased his empty feeling.

He'll build up his wall again, he vowed to himself. He'll never let anyone in.

Sasuke's breaths grew quieter and longer, his heart stopped hammering. The 'mask' was put back in place.

Suddenly, a door to the side of the building opened, and out walked a grumbling blond. Upon spotting Sasuke, his face brightened and he waved.

Sasuke's heart clenched again, but he promptly ignored it. _'Why is he here? He should be with-'_ All of a sudden, he was filled with hatred, and white hot searing anger. _'Naruto betrayed me…why is he smiling like that? To mock me?!'_

Naruto ran towards him, "Sasuke! There you are, I was starting to think you would _never_ come. You had me worried!"

"Don't come near me." Sasuke said in an ice cold voice.

"Wha…" Naruto stopped in his tracks and stared at the raven haired man in confusion. "Something wrong Sasuke?" He reached out a hand towards him.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!" Sasuke jerked back. "Don't touch me, you filthy quiff! (2)"  
He turned his face away.

The blond's eyes grew large and moistened, forming little pools of tears on his bottom lashes. He dropped his hand down, "N-Ne, w-what did I do? What's wrong? T-Tell me!"

'_Why's is he still acting like that? Making t-that face like he has no clue?'_ Sasuke grew angrier, his eyes blazed. He thought about Naruto reaching towards the money, he thought about Gaara's smirk. _'Like HELL he doesn't know what's wrong!'  
_

Sasuke whirled his head around, eyes glaring at Naruto. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT! YOU KNOW PERFECTLY WELL WHAT'S WRONG!"  
He raised his arm up and pointed, "Get away from me." He spat out. "Don't let me see your face again."

Naruto backed up, taking a few slow steps. His eyes glistened, and the pent up tears overflowed. He clutched at his chest and with almost pleading eyes, looked back at Sasuke. The blond's head shook slightly from side to side as if asking him not to say anymore.

"_My greatest mistake was meeting you!" _

Sasuke's cold voice uttering that sentence echoed through Naruto's head, his heart constricted; something in him snapped. Forcing his legs to move, he mustered up to the energy to run away.

Through each pounding of the feet, he ran. Away from him. Away from the one he grew to love.

He was far from the building now.  
There were no people on the road, no carriages or cars either.  
Crickets chirped loudly in the grass, it was dark now.

Naruto stumbled and lost one of his shoes, but he didn't care. He ran on, as far as his legs allowed him to. They were already burning and he had no choice but to slow down; a few minutes later, he collapsed on the gravel ground and lay on his side, breathing heavily. The blond closed his eyes, letting the fatigue wash over him. He let the night lull him into black nothingness.

The smell of gasoline reached his nose and there was the sound of a car pulling over; the last thing he remembers before he blacks out was a pair of golden eyes staring at him.

* * *

It was sometime later when Kakashi burst through the door and found Sasuke outside; sitting on a stump with arms propped up, forehead rested on his hands.

"Sasuke! Come with me quickly!"

The Uchiha remained in his pose, his voice void of any feeling. "Leave me. I want to be alone."

Kakashi, who was just about to head back in, turned back around and stared at him. He took a few steps closer and then looked around, and spotted Naruto's hat lying a few feet away. Suddenly, realization dawned on him.

"You- You didn't…"

"It's over now. I don't want you to ever mention him again." Sasuke laid down his arms and gazed at the dark sky.

"NO! You don't understand- It's not what you think! Just come with me!"

"I saw all I needed to see. He's a gold-digger(3), just like all the others." His words were bitter like poison.

In an instant, Kakashi was upon him; grasping the front of his shirt and tugging him up to meet his eyes. He pointed to the orange hat on the ground, "You don't realize it, but you have just made the made the biggest mistake of your life…" His monocle had fallen off, and his hidden eye gleamed. "Now…if you don't come with me, I will personally make sure do not have the capability to have children anymore." It was the first time Kakashi disobeyed the Uchiha, it was the first time he used physical aggression against him and it was certainly the first time he ever threatened him.

But it all the more emphasized his words.

* * *

Kakashi had half dragged Sasuke to the place where Gaara was. Temari was currently at his side, trying to wipe some of the blood off his face. The redhead himself was holding a napkin over his nose, the blood already seeping through the cloth.

Sasuke took a few wary steps forward, not sure what to think of all this. The sound of crunching glass sounded under his foot, and he noticed the floor was covered in glass shards.

Upon hearing him step in, Gaara turned his head towards Sasuke. "He punched me." Saying the line as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. "That boy actually _punched _me." He started laughing and saking his head in disbelief. Temari shushed him and told him to stay still.

Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "Naruto didn't accept the offer, he flat out rejected it. Not only that, he dumped champagne on Gaara and gave him a broken nose."

Sasuke whirled around. "H-He didn't accept the money?"

"He wanted none of it."

The Uchiha looked to Gaara again, and then to back to Kakashi. "No no no… no no no no no….." He started tugging at his hair with a feverish frenzy. "What have I done…What have I done."

"Naruto… where is he… …Naruto!" Sasuke stopped his actions and then ran as fast as he could out the same door for the second time that day. This time it was for different reasons.

It was completely dark now; there was no other light on the road except for the moonlight. The crickets continued chirping, oblivious to what was happening around them.

Sasuke ran through the dark street, shouting out Naruto's name every few seconds, but there was always no reply. With an increasing dreaded feeling in his heart, he continued to search for the next hour. Though to no avail. He stopped at the top of a hill to catch his breath when an object caught his eye. Sasuke walked towards it and bent down to pick it up.

It was an orange shoe with a sequin clasp.

In a shaky, broken voice, he said the only name he wanted to call out to ever again.

"_Naruto."_

**-End Act 9-**

* * *

(1) John - toilet  
(2) quiff – prostitute, slut  
(3) Gold-digger – person who sleeps with men to get their money

A/N: Waahh! This chapter was torture to write! Not only do I make one of my fav characters a jerk (Gaara), I hurt poor Naru-chan so badly. I was in agony when I made Sasuke say all those hurtful words (I tried to tone it down…eh-he, but hopefully it still gets the message across). Plus Orochimaru officially comes in now and I detest that man (cuz he made Sasuke leave!). So yea, it was NOT an enjoyable chapter for me T-T  
I wanna write more comedy! But sadly it won't be for a while… -sigh-

Next Update: April 6 or 7, 2007 (Time flies by…)


	10. Act 10: The Ransom Note

**1923: ACT 10: THE RANSOM NOTE AND A NEW REVELATION!**

**Disclaimer:** Kishimoto presented me with Sasuke and Naruto on Sunday, and I so exuberantly happy!  
Then he said it was an Aprils Fool's joke…and I cried TT

**Warnings:** Zomg, watch out for the golden eyed man!

A/N: I apologize about my April Fool's joke again. But phew, I'm so glad I **didn't** decide to leave out the little bit at the end telling you all that it was a joke. Originally I was going to leave it that bit out and post it up for a whole day and see what people say. But yeah…I think I would end up dead by now if I did that. –sweatdrops-

But but but! A joke wouldn't a joke if it's not done well! Right, right? -looks around-

Eh-he, well, anyways. Yay for all the people that took it so well and actually had a good laugh! I love you guys!

Oh my gosh, I gotta tell you about the awesome joke DatteBayo pulled! Ok, I'm sure you all know (being avid Naruto fans), that DatteBayo is a HUGE fansub group that is dedicated to fansubbing the latest episodes of Naruto. Millions and millions of people download from their site. But on April 1, there was a page up saying that the website was shut down by the US Department of Justice for distributing copyright materials. All the 'leaders' will be fined and jailed, and anyone that downloaded from their site would be tracked down and fined as well. (The page was sooo well done, it looked completely professional). I was so sad for the fansubbers! I was like, "they didn't make money out of doing it! They were only doing it for the Naruto fans in America! They don't deserve that!" I was also sooo scared that they would track down my IP address and find all my downloaded anime. But yeah…the next day…webpage said: 'We take April 1st **seriously**.' Can't imagine how many flames and death threats they got after that…eh-he

Anyways, I've babbled for long enough; I'll shut up now and let you all read now.

o0o

* * *

o0o

Sasuke paced nervously from one side of his study to the other. Every now and then, his eyes would dart to the open window behind his desk, which showed several policemen talking outside near his gate.

He had searched several hours for Naruto last night after finding the shoe, but there was no other trace of the blond anywhere. By then the Uchiha couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling that something happened to Naruto. So he decided to informed the police and ordered them do a public search the first thing in the morning.

It was now noon and no one had found a single clue yet.

At that moment, Kakashi walked in through the door. Sasuke immediately stopped pacing and turned towards the butler; "Well?! What's the update?" He said with an agitated and restless voice.

Kakashi shook his head sadly. "Sorry master Sasuke, still nothing."

Sasuke resumed his pacing.

Kakashi bowed, and left the room, knowing that Sasuke wanted to be left alone.

A million thoughts swirled in his head, and there are no words to describe the amount of guilt he felt right now. He thought about Naruto's teary face, he thought about the broken pieces of glass, and the blood from Gaara's nose, he thought about the dark night, he thought about Naruto's retreating back and the single lone shoe.

And so he regretted.

He regretted not staying for a few more seconds, he regretted saying all those things, he regretted the whole game. But most of all he hated, he hated himself for his weaknesses, his doubts, and he hated himself for his mistrust.

And now it may be too late.

"GRAAAHHHHHH!" Sasuke yelled as he turned to his desk and sent all the objects flying with an angry sweep of his hands. He plunked himself into a nearby chair let his head fall onto his palms.

Meanwhile, outside the study door. Kiba and Shino stood there, pressed against the wood, trying to figure out what was going on.

Kiba winced when he heard the crashing noises, "Whoa, the Uchiha must be going off his nuts(1) in there."

"… …" (Translation: I told you he was in love with Naruto.)

"Bushwa! You're still saying that? I still don't see what's so special about that brat."

"…" (He DID punch you, plus he always makes people smile)

"Lay off! That was once. But I guess your right about the cheering up thing. Still, the Uchiha isn't the type to fall in love after 2 months..."

"… … …" (Translation: Listen to him, he's obviously upset that Naruto's disappeared. I think that means he cares for him to a great extent."

"Well…I guess you might be on the trolley(2)."

"… …" (I hope Naruto's ok)

"He is!" Kiba said firmly. "If he isn't…then I'll, I'll personally bring him back and beat some sense into him!"

Shino just smiled.

"What are you boys doing there!" TenTen suddenly shouted behind them.

Kiba jumped and turned around with a finger to his lips. "Shhh! Your gonna let the Uchiha find us out!"

TenTen rolled her eyes, "Well, at least get out of the way. I've got a message to deliver and it's _urgent._" She gave a little wave of her hand, "Well go on, screw.(3)"

Kiba and Shino obediently stepped away, but as soon as she went in and the door clicked shut again, they instantly glued themselves back onto it.

Inside the room, TenTen curtseyed to the seated young man. "Master Sasuke, someone left a note in front of the door. I think it might be about Naruto." She straightened and presented a slip of paper.

Sasuke immediately shot up from his chair and grabbed the parchment. He frantically scanned the written lines.

_To Mr. Sasuke Uchiha  
_

_I suppose you are wondering where your little blond went. Don't worry, he's safe in my care…for now.  
You see…I have a real fondness for toys; ropes, knives, guns, sticks, whips and other such marvelous things.  
I tend to overplay with my guests a little and they die, sadly enough.  
If you want no harm to come upon the blond, bring $100,000 _(4)_ in cash to the old abandoned farmhouse at the end of Cherryhill Road before 8pm tonight.  
Come alone, don't try to bring men. I have spies everywhere and I will know the minute you do.  
You'd better listen, I'd hate for something accidentally happen to the cute little blonde._

_From a dear friend_

Sasuke tightly crunched the paper in his hands, his eyes flaring with anger.

"TenTen, does anything else know about this note?"

"N-No, sir." The girl said, a little nervous at the show of anger.

"Good, I want you to keep it that way. Make sure you tell no one else there was a note left for me."

TenTen nodded, "Yes, sir."

Sasuke grabbed his jacket off a chair and walked towards the door, and rested his hand on the doorknob. "If anybody asks where I am, tell them I'm running a little errand at the bank."

The girl curtseyed again, "Of course, master Sasuke."

Outside, Kiba and Shino scrambled away from the door and hid behind a potted plant. The door opened and Sasuke stepped out and went down the hall. As soon as he was out of site, the two men rushed into the study; in order to interrogate TenTen.

* * *

Naruto's mind was a hazy black fog and he struggled to make out something.

He heard soft buzzing of flies and mosquitoes around him.  
There was the smell of hay.  
He could feel something bounding his arms and legs.

Naruto slowly opened his eyes, blinking and trying to decipher the shapes. His eyes finally cleared up, and he saw was in some sort of a barn. There were old piles of hay piled up around the rundown walls and sunlight filtered through the shabby roof. His legs were tied up together with rope, and he sat against a beam, to which his hands were tied behind.

"I see you're awake now."

The blond's head whirled towards the sound of the voice, to where a figure appeared out of the shadows. The grinning man had long black hair and long white robes; but his most prominent feature was his eyes; the slender, curved, sinister eyes, which had bright golden pupils for its center.

"Who are you?" Naruto asked warily. He glanced around again. "What am I doing here?"

The golden eyed man glided forward until he was in front of Naruto. He smirked at him, his golden eyes glinting. "Kabuto, bring a chair."

Off to the side, a silver haired man with round rimmed glasses quickly came over, carrying a wooden chair. Naruto squinted off to the side of the barn where he came from, upon a closer look, he saw there were 6 to 8 other men sitting among the hay, which he did not notice in his first glance around. Kabuto put down the chair behind the golden eyed man and he sat down, making himself comfortable. He produced a comb out of his robes and handed it to Kabuto behind him, he took it and wordlessly began to brush the man's long hair.

"Ahh, that's better. So where were we?" He pretended to think. "Oh yes, who am I? Well, I have many different alias names. But I suppose I'll go by Orochimaru, since that's the name most well known. Have you heard of me?"

Naruto drew in a breath, suddenly remembering the newspaper Lee gave him. "The serial killer…"

"Oh goody! You do know." Orochimaru said in a delighted voice. "So on to the next question. Why are you here? You see, my cute little blond, I brought you here. You're going to be my lure for the Uchiha…as well as a little cash."

Upon hearing Sasuke's name, Naruto head lowered and his gaze fell onto his lap. "He won't come."

"Oh?" Orchimaru leaned forward slightly.

"He…he never wants to see me again. You might as well kill me now and get it over with"

The man chuckled gleefully, "Now now, I can't do that. I know all about your lover's quarrel. You know, I take pride in my information gathering, I have a lot of devoted spies. We've been watching you and the Uchiha for quite some time now…Kabuto, don't tug too hard, you'll give me split ends…I've never been wrong about anything before, and my sources never lie. I can indeed tell you that Sasuke is going to come."

Naruto stared blankly ahead. Despite what happened last night, despite all those words; he loved Sasuke no less. _'Will he really come? Will he save me?'_

"So sit tight my cute little blond, you'll see your beloved Sasuke soon enough. You might want to take a good long look tonight…" The golden eyes gleamed ominously. "…because he won't be alive tomorrow."

Naruto's head jerked up and he gazed with horror at the smirking man. '_No…'_**

* * *

**

**6:32 pm **

Sasuke slowed the car down and parked in front of the rundown farmhouse. He reached over to the passenger seat beside him and lifted up the heavy briefcase containing the requested money. Then got out and closed the door. A silver haired man walked up to the Uchiha.

"I'm Kabuto. Orochimaru is waiting for you. Are you absolutely alone?"

"Yes, no one knows I'm here."

"Orochimaru will be pleased, follow me."

Kabuto led the way towards the barn with Sasuke following closely behind. He opened the old rusty door and they both stepped in.

It took a while for Sasuke's eyes to adjust to the dim surroundings. The first thing he saw was Naruto tied and gagged against the wooden beam in middle of the room. Relief washed over Sasuke as he noticed that he did not seem to be hurt. He rushed forward, completely ignoring the frantic shaking of Naruto's head and the muffled shouts for him to stay back.

"Naruto…I am so glad you're alright." Sasuke was a few feet away from the blond now.

"Nuh-uh! Not a step further." Orochimaru appeared out of the shadows and moved in front of the Uchiha. "I know you're eager, but I've been waiting for a while too. First you have to settle things with me."

Sasuke's squinted at the man, and then his dark eyes widened in recognition, "You- You're the recent escapist!"

"Oh Kabuto, see how famous I am? Everyone seems to know me, I'm so flattered!" Orochimaru brought his hands together and grinned gleefully.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed, "Stop playing around, I've brought the money." He opened the briefcase and showed it to the serial killer. "You can count it yourself, there's not a penny short." He closed it again and placed it on the ground in front of him. "Now let Naruto go."

"Oh, but that's no fun."

"It was the deal! Was it not?!" The Uchiha hands clenched in anger. "What else do you want me to do?"

"I was hoping we have a little bit of a chat." The golden eyed man paced around Sasuke slowly, his white robes trailing behind him. "You know, catch up a bit. It's been dreadfully long since we've last met."

"What are you talking about? I've never met you before."

"Tsk Tsk. I'm kind of disappointed, but I suppose being at age 7, you wouldn't remember much."

Sasuke thought back, trying to recall any memories of this man. Golden eyes, the grinning face…suddenly, he remembered. "You were one of my father's employees!"

"Oh very good! You aren't called a genius for nothing. I'm sure you're father was very proud of you," Orochimaru smiled almost maniacally. "Too bad he isn't here now…"

Sasuke's breath hitched in his throat, he slowly brought his gaze up to meet the golden eyes.

"I would have loved to watch him burn…and hear his screams of pain."

**-End Act 10-**

* * *

A/N: Ahahaha, Orochimaru is so OOC! But I couldn't resist, I've always picture him like this. I bet he cares a lot about his hair, who wouldn't if they had hair like that :P

(1) Off his nuts – going crazy  
(2) On the trolley – on the right track; correct  
(3) Screw - go away (I have added this now :P)  
(4) I think this may be equal to about $5,000,000 nowadays? (Correct me if I'm wrong).

I have no fanart, but I have something better! A quiz I made for you lovely readers; "Discover whether you're Seme or Uke!" – 5 possible outcomes with detailed answers and bishielicious pictures! (Take out brackets):

http(:)//www(.)memegen(.)net/view/show/6776

I'd love to hear who got what, leave me a review!

Next Update: Sat, April 14


	11. Act 11: A Hundred Hits

**1923: ACT 11: A HUNDRED HITS AND A HUNDRED APOLOGIES**

**Disclaimer:** Er yea, Kishimoto locked up all his characters. I can't get to them T-T

**Warnings:** Hmm, nothing much. Oh, except maybe for the little fact that a murderer is on the loose!

A/N: FINALLY! Stupid FFnet decides to let me upload documents again! For those of you who didn't know, FFnet hasn't been letting me upload for the past 4 days now. So it was NOT my fault this is late! I posted a note on my profile about this along with a link to deviantart where my Ch11 was temporarily posted. Don't know how many of you saw that...

But anyways, it's here now!

For the quiz: my own result was Seme-in-Training, though most people say I look very uke-ish. So I have a dominating nature! XD Eat that, tall people! -gets ignored-

But yeah, for all you girls who got seme, don't worry. You can still be seme even if you're a girl. Literally, seme means 'the attacker', so I like to think of it as the person who _gives_ affection. So that means you're the one in control. As for uke, that means 'the receiver', so it is the person who _receives_ affection. Hehe, you can still top in the bedroom if you're a girl –winks

Thank you all for the reviews! They make me happy to be a writer, it is the only reward that we fanfiction authors get! So thank you all again!  
I'm so glad to hear from a couple of people that have been reading from mediaminer and tonfa (I stopped posting up there). Glad you're still keeping up with this story!

Oh, and I'm really sorry about the 'cannot reply to the same chapter' problem. I didn't know about that rule, sorry! It touched to see some of you send me PMs and finding other ways to leave a review. Thank you, I love you guys!

There was only one review that slightly bothered me, but the person didn't leave an email, so I'll post the reply here:

**John:** I'm not exactly a fan of this type of story, so I won't say bad things about it. However, I have a question: how can that story be considered a naruto fiction, since it has only the names of the original, and not any other elements?

**Reply: **Eto…well, I don't know what your definition of fanfiction is, but I think there is a reason why they are called fanfiction in the first place. It's not meant to be true or to have anything to do with the original plot. I wrote this because I thought it would be interesting to put the characters in this setting. As for no other elements? Well, I'd say I try to keep the characters close to their originals, but they've been changed to fit the story. And if you are not a fan of this type of story, it'll probably benefit both of us if you read something more suitable for your tastes, ne:)

Eh-he, my A/N's are getting ridiculously long aren't they?

o0o

* * *

o0o

_(Recap) "I would have loved to watch him burn…and hear his screams of pain."_

"But sadly I couldn't be near the scene of crime, could I?" Orochimaru laughed.

Sasuke's eyes blazed; his pupils contradicted. With an angry scream that shook the barn, he lunged forward at the man, fist raised.

Orochimaru easily sidestepped out of the way and then brought his elbow down on Sasuke's back. He crashed down onto the hay covered floor. With a cough, he got up again, glaring intensely at the murderer of his family. "You! It was you! You're the one who set the bombs, you're the one who caused the fire, you're the one who burned up my whole clan! Why! WHY?!"

"Well, my dear Sasuke." Orochimaru's voice was light and teasing, as if he was explaining a funny memory. "I had a bit of a grudge on your father you see. I worked 10 long years for him and was suppose to be promoted to the Chief Manager, but that despicable man gave the job to one of the Uchihas and then fired me! I soon became penniless and lost _everything_, my whole life was ruined. Doesn't that sound just dreadful? So naturally, I had to take revenge…"

Sasuke whole body shook, and when he spoke, his voice was low and deadly. "You goddamn asshole…I wish I could kill you 100 times over, because once won't be enough." He lunged at him again, this time he faked a move to the left and punched Orochimaru on the cheek with all his strength. The man flew backwards, hitting the ground with a thud. He sat up slowly with a surprised expression and a hand over his cheek. "How dare you mar my beautiful face!" He motioned towards the men near the wall.

In an instant, they all came upon Sasuke and grabbed his arms. He struggled against the brutes, but there were at least 8 of them and they held onto him tightly.

"What's wrong? Don't think you can handle me? You have to let your little underlings do the job for you?" The Uchiha mocked him.

Orochimaru got up and wiped the little trickle of blood on the side of his mouth, then resumed his smirk. Though it was less subdued than before. "Oh no Sasuke, you just caught me off guard. The fun is just beginning." He walked to side where a long pole was leaning against a corner. "See this? This a special type of stick that was used in ancient China to punish very naughty people. It was especially delightful when they tested how long the person could last under the hits, a lovely item, don't you think?"

He picked up pole and walked towards blond struggling against the beam.

"What the hell are you doing? Get away from Naruto!" Sasuke roared out, struggling harder against the men.

Orochimaru laughed maniacally. "That's it! Get mad, show me that face!"

He turned towards the blond who cowered against the beam, the gag prevented him from talking but his blue eyes were wide and frightened.

"I wonder how long this little fella will last under the pole." His grin stretched across his face and he raised up the wooden stick, then forcefully brought it down.

Naruto shut his eyes and awaited the painful blow.

_**SMACK**_

He heard the hit, but strangely, he felt no pain. He tentatively opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was black locks of hair. Then the pair of arms placed on either side of him, and then the pained expression on the normally handsome face.

Naruto's eyes went wide and his heart thudded.

In the moment that just occurred, right before the stick came down, Sasuke broke free from the men and ran forward and positioned himself in front of Naruto.

"Oh? What's this? You want to take the blows for him?" Orochimaru asked in amusement.

"Naruto doesn't deserve this, he isn't involved in anything. I, alone, have already hurt him enough already. I don't want him to experience anymore pain. If you want to hit someone, hit me. I deserve it." Sasuke looked straight at Naruto and smiled gently.

"Bah! You're giving me a toothache. Alright, I'll be nice today and grant your wish." Orochimaru's golden eyes glinted evilly.

Sasuke kept his eyes trained on the blue ones. "I'm sorry Naruto."

_**SMACK**_

Sasuke winced, but never broke the gaze. "I'm sorry about last night."

_**SMACK**_

"I'm sorry I didn't trust you."

_**SMACK**_

"I'm sorry I said all those ugly words."

_**SMACK**_

"I'm sorry I made you cry."

_**SMACK**_

Naruto shook his head, begging him to stop. His tears overflowed, leaving trails on his face. Still Sasuke went on, never breaking the gaze; before each blow, he would apologize for a wrong-doing. Then wait for the pole to hit his back and then start the process over again. He didn't cry out, but the pain was excruciating. With each hit, he felt his arms give out a little and his voice become weaker.

_**SMACK**_

"I'm sorry I didn't chase…after you."

_**SMACK**_

"I'm…sorry I couldn't find…you sooner."

_**SMACK**_

"I'm…sorry you…had to be…tied up…like this." His breathing was ragged and his voice was hoarse, his arms shook from supporting his weight.

Naruto screamed against the rag and shook his head. 'No more! No more Sasuke! That's enough. That's enough.' He shouted desperately, hoping Sasuke could hear them.

_**SMACK**_

"I'm sorry I…didn't say this…sooner." Sasuke's voice was barely a whisper, he coughed and droplets of blood hit the floor beside them. His lids started to fall over his eyes and he leaned forward so that his cheek was against Naruto's.

"I love you…"

_**SMACK**_

With a grunt of pain, Sasuke fell upon Naruto, unmoving. The blond's heart stopped and he did not even bother to breath, all he could do was stare at Sasuke's motionless body.

"What? He's done already?" Orochimaru stopped his hitting. "What a bore, he didn't last very long." The white robed man dropped the stick and began to work out the kinks in his shoulders.

"Ah, do get him out of here; he's becoming such a sore sight for the eyes." He said, as he gestured to the men beside him and started walking away and. They nodded and walked forward to pick Sasuke up.

Naruto was dead silent, his head slightly bowed down and completely still, but it was deceiving, like that of a seemingly harmless mountain…until it starts to rumble. His arms shifted slightly, as if straining against something. Suddenly there was loud _snap_ and Naruto brought his hands forward, the remnants of the rope dropping to the ground.

The men jumped back and gave barks of surprise.

Orochimaru stopped in his tracks, and turned around to see what was going on. Naruto, having freed his feet as well, pulled the gag out of his mouth and slowly got up.

The golden-eyed man gaped in bewilderment. "H-How…"

Naruto lifted his head up and his eyes latched straight onto Orochimaru's face. His eyes were no longer the cheery colour of the skies, but like of the piercing chill of an iceberg and the intense heat of blue flames, when he spoke, his voice was far from his usual tone, it was thick as syrup and deadly as venom.

"_You made me mad."_ He took a step towards the man.

"_Really mad."_

The volcano erupted.

* * *

TenTen kept true to her promise and did not tell anyone about the note, despite constant pestering from Kiba. She knew that if she went against her orders, she'd definitely get fired. So the ever obedient maid merely told everyone, who asked, that he was out on an errand.

However, Kakashi could not be deceived. He knew that Sasuke would not even be in the mood to eat, much less go out to run some errand at the bank. So the butler, thinking that something must not be right, cornered TenTen in the hallway and questioned her.

"Miss TenTen, I am aware that you have your duties to master Sasuke, but there might be more in jeopardy than your job. Now, tell me where Sasuke really is. I know there's no way he'd be at the bank for 6 hours."

TenTen bit her lip, and looked at the ground. Finally she let out a sigh and caved in. "Okay, okay. I'll tell you. Right now, I'm probably more worried about him than any one of you." She told Kakashi about how she sneaked a peek at the contents of the note before handing it over to Sasuke, and then she told him about the exchange that was supposed to occur.

"Naruto was kidnapped?" Kakashi asked in bewilderment.

"Yes it looks like it, but I have no idea who the sender is, it was just left out on the doorstep." She turned to look at the old grandfather clock. "It's now 7 pm. But knowing master Sasuke, he'd probably have gotten there as early as possible."

"TenTen…" The sliver haired was slowly seized with fear. "Why didn't you say something earlier?"

"I'm sorry, I probably should have. But I trusted in master Sasuke's judgement to keep others out of it."

Kakashi swore under his breath, "The hell he could have made a proper judgment then. His whole mind was on Naruto, even a goddamn pen remind him of that kid. This is not good."

"Sir. What should we do?"

"We have no choice but to notify the police, it might be dangerous to barge in there. But it's a chance we'll have to take."

* * *

The four police cars sped along the gravel road and screeched to a halt in front of the abandoned farmhouse. Kakashi and the men got out and glanced around, the butler recognized Sasuke's car parked near the barn and motioned the men forward. They crept up to the door and the policemen arranged themselves on both sides, guns posed and ready. There a few groaning sounds could be heard through the rickety door. Giving the signal, one of the policemen kicked the door open. Instantly, all the men pointed their guns inside and shouted, "FREEZE!"

There was no sound or movement.

It was now dusk and sunlight no longer filtered through the roof, they could barely make out the shapes of bodies on the grounds. Confused, they slowly made their way inside, still keeping their guns raised. As Kakashi and the men got closer, they saw about 8 to 10 men laying on the ground, some out cold and some groaning softly. The policemen quickly rolled them facedown and handcuffed them.

"These bimbos(1) sure got knocked up real good." One of the police said.

"Jesus Christ! I think this here is Orochimaru, that fella who escaped a while back. Can you believe it?"

Kakashi was more worried than surprised. If a murderer was here…then what happened to Naruto and Sasuke? He looked frantically around the barn, suddenly, he heard soft sounds of crying in one of the corners. As he got closer, he could make out the shape of Naruto's hunched back. Kakashi quickly rushed forward. "Naruto! Are you okay? Are you hurt? What happened?"

The blond stopped his sniffles and turned around. "K-Kakashi?"

That's when the butler noticed that Naruto was holding Sasuke in his arms, his head placed on the blond's lap. He didn't appear to be moving.

"K-Kakashi, what do I do? Sasuke…Sasuke, he…" Naruto broke off crying.

Kakashi walked in front of them and kneeled down. With his heart twisting painfully in his chest and dread building in the pit pf his stomach, he reached out a shaking hand to feel for Sasuke's pulse.

He hoped, he waited.

With a great sigh of relief and thanking the lords and gods, he dropped his hand. The pulse was still there, though faint.

"He's ok, Naruto. His heart is still beating."

With a fresh burst of tears, Naruto clutched Sasuke to his chest, this time with a smile.

"It's alright now." Kakashi patted Naruto on the back reassuringly. "Everything is going to be ok."

**-End Act 11-**

* * *

(1) Bimbo – tough guy

Note: The pole beating punishment is true (I saw it in Chinese movies!). Back then, when someone broke the law or offended the emperor/ high officials, they would strap them onto this wooden bench thing and then give them 100 whacks with the pole. It was very painful, and often people died from it. I suppose it's better than having your head chopped off though :P (which is what they do when you commit a major, major offence).

Note about swear words: I wanted to let Sasuke say 'fuck', but I was worried whether it'll be historically correct so I did some research. Supposedly 'fuck' wasn't a swear word back then; it referred to the sexual act. So I had to replace 'fuck' with 'goddamn' and 'hell'. Eh-he.

A/N: This is the last chapter before the epilogue. Zomg, can you believe it? This story is almost done!  
Yeah, so the next chapter is the last one, I'll be wrapping everything up. If there was anything that wasn't clear enough, or needs wrapping up, please tell me, I'll include it in the epilogue. I'm pretty sure I have things all thought through, but sometimes I miss some details.

Ciao for now, until next time!

**Revision:** Next Update: Sat. April 21 (Ahaha, I wrote April 28 by accident, sorry guys, I meant April 21. At least, I'll try to aim for that. But it might take slighty longer as it's probably gonna be longer.)


	12. Epilogue: Sasuke's Birthday

**EPILOGUE: SASUKE'S BIRTHDAY**

**Disclaimer: **I begged, I pleaded, I got down on both knees, I even offered pocky. But Kishimoto still won't give me his characters T-T

**Warnings** Aha, I have none!

A/N: Sorry this was late. I had a bit of a nasty 'time of the month', I kinda slept through most of Saturday. Well, its here now!  
Ah, I think my writing style has changed a lot from the other chapters, eh-he.

o0o

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2 weeks, 5 days later.  
July 23, 1923

A lot has happened in this relatively short period of time…

Sasuke was taken immediately to the hospital after the incident; the doctor said he was really lucky, a few more hits and his spinal cord would have been permanently damaged. He was supposedly assigned to stay there for at least 3 weeks, but the Uchiha hated the hospital and demanded to be released as soon as possible. After a few days of monitoring, Sasuke was found to be recovering much faster than the doctors predicted, so they finally agreed to let him go. Then much to Sasuke's utter delight, Naruto made it his personal job to attend to his every need; feeding, giving medication, dressing, and even bathing, (this of course had nothing to do with the fact that Sasuke threatened to break the fingers of anyone else who dared to touch him).

For the days that followed the incident, Konohaville was ablaze with rumors about the small blond boy who single-handedly defeated the serial killer; Orochimaru, and his underlings which were10 large beefy men. Lee made sure that Naruto became famous with his enthusiastic shouting, making more people go deaf and blind than usual.

But if you were to ask Naruto about it, he would say he doesn't remember a thing except for seeing a lot of red and having the uncontrollable urge to rip apart Orochimaru limb by limb, break his bones, rip off his skin and disconnect his nerves. The next thing he knew, Orochimaru and his men were all on the ground, beaten and bruised. The doctors counted 8 broken legs, 6 broken arms, 12 dislocated joints, 31 cracked/broken ribs, 7 black eyes, and 1 no longer usable 'magic wand' due to multiple hits with the pole, (guess who? Pos-i-lute-ly…Orochimaru).

Naruto's friends, upon hearing this, shuddered in fright. They learned a very important lesson from this:

NEVER EVER piss off Naruto.

(Everyone walked on eggshells for the days after that, even Kakashi stopped teasing him…for a while)

Orochimaru is currently now in prison, this time with no chance of escaping. His cell is pure concrete and it is guarded all around the clock. His men were all caught and sentenced to various times of imprisonment depending on their crimes. The serial killer, however, has been sentenced to death (which might even be sort of a blessing for him for the state he is in right now), it is to be held in a week's time. Sasuke and Naruto plan to attend, (they shall be bringing popcorn).

Iruka was notified of everything that had happened a day after the incident. Needless to say, he freaked out and went straight to the police station. Let just say, Orochimaru nearly had an early death, (you think Naruto is scary? You haven't seen Iruka yet. Poor fella, he messed with the wrong people…). He also then went to the hospital and tried to strangle Sasuke for getting Naruto in this mess the place first. It was a good thing the blond was there to stop him.

Oh, Iruka got over it eventually…(with some **–ahem-** 'help' from Kakashi).

Alright, back to today.

TODAY…

**-cue in drumroll-**

is the day we are celebrating the jovial occasion of Sasuke Uchiha's birth!

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Lively, cheery music blasted from the gramophone and filled the large private ballroom of the Uchiha's mansion. Garlands, ribbons and vines were hung all around the room. People in semi formal attire mingled together on the dance floor; some drank cocktails, some danced with partners to the music. The finest food was to be served, the finest wine, the best of the best.

Everyone who was even remotely familiar with Sasuke or Naruto was invited to this gathering. It was a grand occasion indeed.

**Let's**** have a closer look, shall we…**

_-Zooming in-_

Scene 1

Kakashi and Iruka were both currently dancing together, but the butler's eye twinkled mischievously and he pulled Iruka into his chest and wrapped his arms around him.

"E-Ehh? What are you doing Kakashi?" Iruka asked with a blush.

"Dancing." He smiled through his mask.

"But we're suppose to be doing a foxtrot!"

"Then let's change the pace a little."

"Oh…well, alright- Hey! Where are you touching?!"

"It's a new dance move." Kakashi chuckled as he squeezed Iruka's buttocks again.

Scene 2

Lee and Gai are enthusiastically talking to one another, with matching smiles and matching green suits.

"I say mate, it feels like we've known each other forever. But we've met just now!" Lee exclaims.

"And how(1)! Ma boy, our youthful spirits have drawn us together. Oh what a glorious day!"

"You have said it too well, Mr.Gai!"

**Smile!**_  
-BRIGHT FLASH-_

**Smile!**_  
-EVEN BRIGHTER FLASH-_

(The ballroom is no longer in need of light…)

Scene 3

Sakura and Ino are chatting, both are tearing up and in distress.

"I can't believe Naruto and Sasuke got _together!_" Sakura wailed.

"I don't think I can go on living!" Ino flailed a hand upon her forehead.

"Let's jump off a bridge together after we take a few more looks at Sasuke."

"That's a good id- "

Gaara walks by.

Ino clasps her hands together, "I have renewed my will to live."

Sakura wiped a bit of drool away, "Who'd want to throw their life away when there are such _divine_ beings existing."

They both immediately faced each other and yelled in unison,

"I SAW HIM FIRST!"

Scene 4

Kiba and Shino walked around, occasionally greeting someone and participating in some small talk. However, Kiba looked utterly bored out of his mind.

"Man, Shino. I haven't yet seen one skirt(2) Jane(3) or a smarty(4) yet!"

"… … …?" (Translation: You're here at our boss' party just to pick up girls?)

"I don't just look for girls!"

"…?" (Fellas too?)

"NO! Definitely not fellas, ya idiot!"

Kiba then spotted Hinata leaning against the wall, she was wearing a cute black and grey cocktail dress. There didn't seem to be anyone with her. Kiba nudged Shino in the ribs.

"Oi, check out that doll. Isn't she a choice bit of calico(5)?"

"…" (This actually just means '…')

"I'm gonna ask her to dance." With that Kiba walked up to the shy girl with a grin on his face. Shino watched as Hinata blushed and accepted Kiba's hands.

"… …" (You didn't ask _me_ to dance…)

Scene 5 

Naruto pushed the 'wheeled chair' that Sasuke was sitting on towards the cocktail table. The Uchiha made a move to get up, but Naruto quickly pushed him back down.

"Oh no you don't. The doc says you can't get up until at least 5 more days."

"Pfft, he underestimates me."

"And you underestimate me! You're not getting up, not on my watch. Just be a good boy; wait right there and I'll get you something." Naruto walked over to the table, leaving a sulking Uchiha behind.

"Hiya Neji!" Naruto called out as he noticed the black haired man was also at the table. "Having a nice time?"

Neji turned around and smiled gently. "Lovely, thanks."

"Where's Hinata?"

"She's waiting by that wall over there—" Neji pointed and stopped. "She's gone…"

Naruto laughed and winked, "Maybe she's off dancing with some fella."

Neji paled (if that is possible). "I think I gotta go now."

The blond snickered under his breath.

Neji headed in the direction where Hinata last was, which coincidently the Uchiha is also along that path. As Neji got closer to his 'wheeled chair', Sasuke gave him a glare, specifically the 'Naruto's-mine-and-I'll-wring-your-neck-if-you-so-much-as-look-at-him-in-the-wrong-way' glare.

The black haired man scowled and met his gaze, giving him the 'fine-with-me-but-if-you-hurt-him-again-I'll-snatch-him-from-you-and-castrate-you-with-a-blunt-knife' glare.

Sasuke smirked, but Neji got the message from the warmth in his eyes. He gave a curt nod to show his understanding and walked off to find his cousin.

**A lovely party, don't you think?**

**

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**

5 hours later…(after the guests have left)

Sasuke and Naruto are alone in the living room; the fire crackled merrily in the fire place and the moon shone through the window. The blond shuffled his feet a little, and brought out a package from behind his back.

"Um…I got you something Sasuke, I dunno if you'll like it…that is…you're rich and all, so…um…well…oh just open it!" Naruto shoved the orange package into Sasuke's hands and looked away, blushing.

The Uchiha raised an eyebrow and smirked. His heart felt warm, and it wasn't from the fire. He carefully took off the wrapping and opened the case of the little box. Inside, nestled on blue velvet, were a pair of golden cufflinks shaped like sunflowers. Sasuke smiled.

"Well, I'll be reminded of a certain blond goof(5) whenever I wear this."

"Why you--!"

Sasuke grabbed a hold of the blond's tie and pulled him down to meet his lips. It was sweet and tender, showing the side that only Naruto knows (and ever will). When their lips finally parted, Sasuke whispered. "I'll cherish it."

Naruto stood up with a happy smile on his face. "That's good, I just wanted to give you something to remember me by…you know…since I'm leaving soon and all…" His smile slowly lost its vigor. "My 3 and a half months are almost up…" He trailed off sadly.

Sasuke closed the box with a snap and dropped on his lap. "Naruto, push me towards that vase there."

"Huh?" The blond look quizzically at him, but obey nonetheless. He maneuvered the wheeled chair till they were in front of the stand where the priceless vase was.

"Give me your hand." Sasuke ordered.

Still confused, Naruto extended his arm and placed his hand on the other man's hand. Sasuke grabbed the blond's hand and in one motion, made Naruto push the vase over. It crashed to the floor and shattered.

Naruto shrieked and jumped away. "HOLY BEJEZUS! What d'ya do—"

"That vase is a family heirloom, there's no other like it in the world. I will need compensation."

The blond opened his mouth to protest.

"It looks like you'll have to stay by my side forever." Sasuke looked up and smiled.

Naruto faltered and blinked. Then he smiled as well, "Bastard. You didn't have to do that, what is Kakashi going to say, how are you going to explain this to Itachi—if he ever comes back-, you shouldn't recklessly break stuff, ya know—"

"Shut up." And once again, Sasuke yanks on the tie.

As Naruto enjoys the kiss, he thinks back to how this all started. Who knew all this could happen with one coffee? Who knew all the embarrassment, the work, the blushes, the laughter, the smiles, the heartbreak, the tears, the pain and…the love could start with just one step—or trip.

This is not a fairy-tale ending, there is no such thing! We'll both need to work hard together to overcome future obstacles. There might be more pain and more heartbreak, but we'll look forward to the times of joy and laughter. Our relationship will not be perfect, but one thing is sure…

Our feelings won't change.

Or I don't think it will (at least not for me). Well, if Sasuke ever doubts…

Let's just say, there's _a lot_ of silverware and sharp objects in the Uchiha household.

**-END-**

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(1) And how! – I strongly agree!  
(2) skirt – an attractive female  
(3) Jane – any female  
(4) Smarty – a cute flapper  
(5) choice bit of calico – you remember this, don't you? An attractive girl  
(6) goof – idiot (pretty much equal to dobe :P)

A/N: -starts crying- Omg, its over, my baby is over! It started off as such a little thing, and now it's all grown up –sniffles- and it got so many fans!  
Ok, I'll be serious now. Thanks to ALL the reviewers and readers of my fanfic! I love you all very much and couldn't have finished this without you! A special thanks to those who stuck with me all the way through; hugs and kisses for you! I had fun writing this fic, even though I got frustrated sometimes. I learned a lot, and it has been a great experience for me.  
Actually, I am a little glad that this is over cuz I'll be able to get started on some other fics I have planned (in my head). Please put me on your author alert list (if you like), so that you'll know when I write a new fic. I'd love to hear from you all again!

Much much love, Koinu-chan


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